Houston Chronicle

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The Astros didn’t win the American League pennant this year, but again they’ve again earned the Good Guys award. The Astros refused to cross a picket line of striking hotel workers in Boston during their series against the Red Sox. Normally the team stays at the Sheraton, SBNation reported this week, but they found a different hotel when in town for the ALCS. The Dodgers and Yankees, on the other hand, ignored the striking workers, who are marching for a fair contract that offers enough pay so they don’t have to take second jobs to make ends meet. The Rockets aren’t going to win a Good Guys award anytime soon — not after the fight that broke out in Los Angeles last week. Chris Paul was suspended for two games after coming to blows with Rajon Rondo after the Lakers player allegedly spit in Paul’s face. Coach Mike D’Antoni, however, is making the time-tested argument of sibling fights — “But he started it!” — calling Paul’s suspension unfair because Rondo allegedly threw the first punch. That argument doesn’t fly when shouted from the backseat of a minivan, and it doesn’t work on the basketball court, either. If the Astros are good and the Rockets are bad, then the Texans land squarely in the “ugly” category after Thursday’s game. Yes, the Texans not only won and broke their own scoring record for a nationally televised game, but they’re also on a 5-0 winning streak after starting the season with three consecutiv­e losses. Here’s the ugly part: Wide receiver Will Fuller suffered a torn ACL and is out for the rest of the season. Oof. Are you hip to the new, cool trend called voting? Apparently everybody’s doing it! Local turnout for the first week of early voting in the 2018 midterm election was at levels not usually seen outside presidenti­al years. If you need a little guidance, or just color commentary about the candidates, read up on the editorial board endorsemen­ts at HoustonChr­onicle.com/ opinion/endorsemen­ts Mankind notched another victory in our ongoing war against the machines this week when Harris County joined the city of Houston in adopting rules to prevent the opening of so-called “robot brothels.” Here’s our unsolicite­d advice for any merchants of mechanical paramours: Just open your silicone sleaze den in the 100-year flood plain. If history is any guide, local government­s will let you build anything there. The president was in town Monday to amp up the crowd for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in his race against U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, but the real show was outside Toyota Center. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was spotted marching through the streets, yelling into his megaphone and — at one point — shouting at a pile of horse manure. If you were wondering what Twitter would look like in real life, consider this a fine example.

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