Astros and accountability; praise on World Aids Day

Sober analysis

Regarding “Astros break rules?” (A18, Nov. 20): I initially reacted to the recent cheating allegations against the Astros with denial. I didn’t want it to be true that my favorite baseball team’s uplifting 2017 season might be tainted. How dare someone allege that my team, the team that inspired the city after Harvey, is less than pure. I imagine that many of President Trump’s supporters felt the same way when the House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings. “How dare the Democrats accuse the person we voted for” they may feel, “of impeachable offenses.”

But supporting our favorite team and supporting our country means that we should want them to improve. We should view the Astros’ accusations of cheating the same way we should view accusations made during the president’s impeachment hearings: a sober analysis of facts. An acknowledgment of cheating and wrongdoing regardless of who we’ve cheered for and voted for. Letting go of denial. A call for accountability.

We can either create a myth of “us against the world,” where we’re always the good guys and everyone else is trying to smear us, or we can take a difficult look at the reality that there is strong evidence against both the Astros and the nation’s president. The former leads to delusion and isolation. The latter leads to reconciliation and improvement. Plácido Gómez, Houston

World Aids Day

Everyone around the world deserves to lead a life of dignity and opportunity. That’s why as we mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, I applaud U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul for his leadership in fighting global health threats like AIDS, which still claims more than 2,000 lives every day.

One of the most effective tools in our arsenal to stop the spread of three of the most deadly diseases and encourage developing countries to invest in their own health care systems is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Our district is lucky to have McCaul, who has been a powerful advocate for the Global Fund, which held its Sixth Replenishment Conference this October and raised enough money from global donors and the private sector to save 16 million lives by 2023.

We’ve made incredible progress against diseases like AIDS over the past 15 years, but we still have a long way to go. As an international development specialist at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Health, I hope McCaul can rely on the support of fellow Texas lawmakers to enthusiastically continue America’s bipartisan commitment to fighting the global AIDS crisis. Jenny Knowles Morrison, Spring

Desperately needed quid

Regarding “Democrats are losing the impeachment battle,” by Marc Thiessen (A12, Nov. 21): Invincible ignorance cannot be addressed by any rational means. Still, I would like to propose a scenario to the columnist and all other last-ditch Trump apologists. Suppose that loan sharks are going to break your kneecaps unless you pay them $5,000, and you don’t have the money. I offer to give you the money, but ask you to do me a favor, though. Would you feel the least pressured to do the

“favor”? Would you not fear that you would not get the desperately needed “quid” if you did not provide the “quo”? What the “Always Trumpers” require is a recording of a conversation of Trump saying he’d like to “bribe you to dig up dirt on my political rival Joe Biden.” By this standard, bribery has never occurred in the history of the world. Keith M. Parsons, Friendswood

BIBLE VERSE

3 John 1: 2 Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.