Conservative: Men Died for That Flag

Think twice before you devalue the American flag, chides Rich Lowry at National Review. (Nike execs, ICE protesters and a certain soccer player come to mind.) “Men have fought for the flag, and not just in the sense of fighting under it,” he notes, relating stories of “color sergeants” — soldiers whose only job was to carry the flag in battle. They risked ­“everything, not for the idea of the flag or any abstraction but for the ­actual piece of fabric itself,” mainly during the Civil War, including “William Carney, the first black serviceman to perform an act deemed worthy of the Medal of Honor,” as depicted in the film “Glory.” Disrespecting the Stars and Stripes, he notes, also disrespects those who were “inextricably caught up in the meaning and moral status of the American flag.”

From the right: Fairness and the Citizenship Question

Today’s system of drawing electoral districts without reference to whether residents can vote is “clearly inconsistent with the one-person-one-vote principle,” argues Henry Olsen at The Washington Post. Indeed, “the Census Bureau already collects data on the number of noncitizens” in each district to show the injustice. In equal-population House districts in California, for example, “the total population of citizens of voting age” varies “from a high of 578,423 to a low of 346,059.” This means “some votes will count more than others — in many cases, by a lot more,” which is “plainly unconstitutional” and also has “serious partisan effects,” benefiting “Democratic candidates.” Fair redistricting requires accurate data, so “don’t be surprised” if the Supreme Court “requires inclusion of a citizenship question in the 2030 Census.”

City Council watch: Ritchie Torres’ Out-of-District ‘Gift’

Ethan Geringer-Sameth of The Gotham Gazette reports that “Bronx City Council Member Ritchie Torres is touting $3 million in city funding he secured for a residential complex that falls outside the Council district he represents but within the Congressional district where he’s seeking votes.” The funds benefit the housing ­cooperative Concourse Village. The reporter quotes Assemblyman Michael Black, a rival for the House seat: “How do you rationalize using campaign funds to communicate with people outside your district to tell them that you got them money blatantly for the purpose of trying to curry political favor?”

Defense beat: What the Space Force Needs To Protect

When President Trump called for the Defense Department to form a “Space Force,” he intended “to ensure American dominance in space,” notes Beyza Unal at The Hill. But the real key is to find “the best way to defend existing and future assets.” Space-based technology is now vital to most “position, navigation and timing capabilities” harnessed for both military and commercial use, and these “space assets are extremely vulnerable to disruption.” The rise in “cyberattacks and electronic warfare upon critical infrastructure” has raised the need to reinforce “space ­security.” Defensive measures may not be as exciting as “claims of US ‘dominance,’ but they are the basis of an intelligent approach to this ­essential sector.”

Green science: Some Recycling Is Bad for the Planet

Although “millions of Americans dutifully fill their recycling bins each week, motivated by the knowledge that they’re doing something good for the environment,” RealClearScience’s Ross Pomeroy explains that “landfilling waste is not the evil many assume it to be.” After China in 2017 moved to “effectively ban imports of most recyclables,” recycling costs “skyrocketed,” many localities began to “throw most traditionally recycled materials in the trash, instead.” Small loss: Plastic and glass are easy to produce but require serious resources to recycle, so “it doesn’t make much economic or environmental sense” to recycle these materials “in much of the developed world.” Aluminum, tin, paper and cardboard should still “absolutely be recycled,” but landfilling is best for other ­materials — plus, “reducing the trash we’re producing and re-using as many goods as possible.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board