Correct. Where are we disagreeing? I think if the upstream outlets fail to protect against a ground fault, your (general your) GFCI also fails…am I wrong?
Nope. I see my error. Wrong twice in a day. A record. 
Sorry, I’m still not following you. Simply put, a GFCI - wherever it may be in the circuit - protects itself and things downstream from a ground fault. It does not protect anything upstream from it.
Correct. I was wrong.
What of my upside down outlets? I was told that for a time they (code) allowed it. it wouldn’t be allowed today. But they are grandfathered in?
My “ground is down” march is coming to your town shortly and with many women who have shill voices.
I think it’s already been mentioned in this thread that the NEC is silent on the issue; for a three-prong receptacle (hot, neutral, ground) it doesn’t care if the ground prong is on the bottom or on the top. This assumes you’re in the U.S., of course.
Going away from power outlets, is there any rule about switches. Do you flip up for on, or down? And is there a regulation?
Well, for three-way switches (two SPDT switches in series), flipping the toggle switch down will turn on the light half the time. So it would surprise me if there’s a regulation, since three-way switches would automatically fail.