rationalskepticism.org

The Washington Post noted overnight what "resurgent Republicans" in Virginia intend to do with their power.

Among the GOP bills are those to: prohibit local governments from banning guns from parks and government buildings; cancel a minimum wage hike — from $11 an hour to $12 — that's scheduled to take effect next year; require women seeking an abortion to sign a written consent; require voters to show photo ID at the polls; cut the early-voting period from 45 days to 14 days; and repeal a state law requiring local school boards to follow the state's lead on transgender-rights policies.

It's hard not to wonder how many Virginians who backed Republicans last fall, many of whom supported President Joe Biden in 2020, realized they were helping put this agenda on the table.

As for the commonwealth's soon-to-be governor, the Post's editorial board added this week:

Last month, Mr. Youngkin announced he would pull Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an emissions-cutting pact among Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, in defiance of common sense and, perhaps, state law. Then, last Wednesday, the governor-elect nominated Andrew Wheeler, a former Trump Environmental Protection Agency chief and onetime coal lobbyist, to be the state's secretary of natural resources.

On the former, no one will benefit from Virginia abandoning the RGGI, an 11-state emissions-cutting agreement, and on the latter, it's hard to justify making Donald Trump's favorite coal lobbyist the steward of Virginia's natural resources.