On Politics

Cyber-security -- a topic long championed by Congressman Jim Langevin -- has finally emerged as a bona fide hot topic.

Tech writer Arik Hesseldahl offers this overview Tuesday, in a piece ominously headlined, "Cyberwar with China is here, like it or not":

If yesterday’s dress rehearsal is any indication, this year’s Providence Newspaper Guild Follies will be  the funniest in years!

The Follies, of course, is the original spoof in song, skit and stand-up comedy of all things Rhode Island, especially our state’s politicians. This year, among the stars will be Linc, Gina, Angel, Jack, Jim, Sheldon, Elizabeth and David!!

Governor Lincoln Chafee tells anyone who will listen that he is running for reelection in 2014, despite poll numbers that show him lagging behind other aspirants, including Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo. Well, Chafee, an independent is getting back into the fund-raising game with a big-ticket fund-raiser in Washington D.C. on Feb. 25, when Chafee is scheduled to be in the nation’s capitol for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said famously that there are no second acts in American life. The Jazz Age novelist never met Vincent A. ``Buddy’’ Cianci Jr.

Cianci, believe it or not, is said to be seriously thinking of making one last run for mayor of Providence, the office he left in disgrace in 2002. According to sources familiar with Cianci’s thinking, he would only run, obviously, if he thought he had a chance at regaining City Hall.

Welcome back to my Friday column. (Sorry to miss you last week; there was a little snow, as you might have heard.) Your thoughts and email are welcome, as always, at idonnis (at) ripr (dot) org.

US Attorney Peter Neronha says the sentencing this week of former Central Falls mayor Charles Moreau is a stark reminder of a blinkered view of public service held by a string of corrupt Rhode Island politicians.