Yosemite Employees Hang US Flag Upside Down in Budget Cut Backlash

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On Feb. 22, a large group of outdoor enthusiasts gathered at El Capitan, one of the world’s most iconic rock formations, in California’s Yosemite National Park to witness the “Firefall”—a natural phenomenon that occurs when the setting sun hits the park’s Horsetail Fall at just the right angle, causing it to resemble a flow of lava. However, the moment was marked by the presence of an upside-down American flag draped over the side of the granite monolith near the fall.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Flag Code determines that when the U.S. national flag is displayed, the union should be uppermost and to the observer’s left. Furthermore, “it should never be displayed upside down unless trying to convey a sign of distress or great danger.” However, the code does not specify any legal penalties for violations.
Yosemite employees reportedly positioned the upside-down flag to protest recent budget cuts, hiring freezes, and federal layoffs, all components of President Donald Trump’s budgetary package, which was narrowly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday—authorizing at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.

A spokesperson for the National Park Service told NTD that the agency “is aware of the unauthorized and inappropriate display that occurred at Yosemite National Park over the weekend.”

“The NPS does not condone such actions, and the flag was removed as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said. “We take the protection of our national parks seriously and will not tolerate behavior that undermines their integrity. At this time, we have nothing further to add.”

The flag appeared on the same day that an email was sent to thousands of federal employees by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), requiring them to submit a report within 48 hours detailing five specific achievements they had made at work in the previous week.

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Responding to the upside-down flag incident, Connecticut State Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) shared a quote in an Instagram post this week, purportedly from Gavin Carpenter, a Yosemite maintenance mechanic Duff identified as a “disabled military veteran.” Carpenter allegedly admitted he had supplied the flag and helped position it.

“We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties,” the quote read.

In his post, Duff asked his followers, “Are we listening to one of our veterans?”

The photo Duff used in the Instagram post was from the San Francisco Chronicle with the caption indicating that the flag was intended to “protest the thousands of federal job cuts made by President Donald Trump’s administration.”

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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