Connecting today’s news with the research & opinion you need.

Irony Level: Pro

What to Know: When “green” New York City was hit with power outages in recent days, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s response was predictable—and ironic. He sent in gas- and diesel-burning generators.

“Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted Con Ed on Twitter, saying, ‘We’ve been through this situation with ConEd time & time again & they should have been better prepared—period,’” WLNY reported. “The governor deployed 200 state police officers, 100 generators and 50 light towers to Brooklyn to help. The Red Cross also set up a temporary shelter at JHS 278 in Marine Park.”

The TPPF Take: No matter how vociferously New York City and the state commit to renewable energy, the fact is that fossil fuels continue to be the necessary backup for wind and solar power.

“Just days after signing one of the country’s most aggressive anti-energy plans into law, New York’s governor exposed the flaws in his own agenda,” said TPPF’s Jason Isaac. “Fossil fuels remain our most reliable and affordable source of energy — and no amount of virtue-signaling can replace the cheap, reliable fuel our economy, health, and quality of life depend on.”

Asylum Rules

What to Know: The Trump administration’s new immigration asylum rules make sense.

“If migrants are already safe in another country, why shouldn’t they apply for asylum there before coming to the United States and applying here?” a New York Post editorial asks. “That’s the perfectly sound logic behind a rule Team Trump put in place Monday: Migrants who pass through another country will be ineligible for US asylum unless they’ve first sought it, unsuccessfully, in that third country.”

The TPPF Take: Abuse of the asylum system is at the heart of the current crisis on the border.

“The border crisis will never end until we overhaul our outdated and ineffective asylum system from top to bottom,” says TPPF’s John Daniel Davidson. “We need an asylum system that above all serves the national interest first.”

Short-Term Troubles

What to Know: The city of Austin says most of its Airbnb and similar short-term rental properties are illegal.

“Three-quarters of Austin’s short-term rentals appear to be operating illegally, according to a contractor the city hired to study the issue,” the Austin American-Statesman reports. “That study will give the city information to take action against thousands of illegal renters over the next year, city staff members said in a recent memo. Over 10,000 properties in Austin advertise as short-term rentals, but only about 2,500 of them are licensed, the memo said.”

The TPPF Take: Short-term rentals aren’t a problem in Austin; its anti-STR ordinance is.

“The number of complaints is small compared to the size of Austin,” says TPPF’s Robert Henneke. “If Austin had an ordinance that allowed people to operate legally, there’d be less unlicensed operators. TPPF’s lawsuit pending at the Third Court of Appeals since May 2018 should soon resolve the questions about the legality of the Austin ordinance.”