People keep asking me, “What’s up with the lawsuit?”

Its a hurry up and wait type of deal. Judge Richard Leon, a Bush II appointee in the U.S. Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, will rule sometime this year on which, if any, of the JFK files of the deceased CIA officer George Joannides, must be made public. If you want regular updates, friend me on Facebook.

If you’re wondering, Who the hell was George Joannides and what is this story about, here’s how to find out.

I broke the story of Joannides’ curious role in the JFK story in the weekly Miami New Times back in 2001. I  sued the CIA for his records in 2003. Many, if not most, of the serious JFK scholars agree with me that the CIA should comply.

If you want more detail about the Joannides investigation has evolved since, check out this video interview I did for the MaryFerrell.org, the most useful site on the Web for JFK scholars because it is more devoted to data than theories.

If you want diverse political perspectives on the Joannides story,  Jacob Hornberger has applied the  libertarian scapel.  Blogger Machetera comes at the story from the perspective of the Latin left.

And if you are daunted by the mere idea of JFK details and polemics, you are not alone.  For the K.I.S.S.  version of the story, you only need to read my piece last spring in Talking Points Memo. It has an exclusive photo of Joannides getting a medal for his espionage.

One final point: If you Google “George Joannides” you will see a number of stories and blog posts linking him to the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I won’t comment on or link to these stories because they are based on a weak 2007 BBC report that proved to have no foundation in fact.

Some conspiracy theories are obvious b.s. and there’s no harm in saying so.