who shot John

I haven't been in on any of the sessions, I don't intend to get directly involved, and I'm not going to engage in any speculation about "who shot John".

1972, Dean Burch, Speech Before NCTA.

1979, Mr. Morris, quoted in Reauthorization of programs under the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, United States General Printing Office, page 17, I really do not think it is appropriate to come up here and present to this committee or to the Congress the "who shot John" processes by which the President makes decisions.

A great number of the most important questions presented to our regulatory agencies have nothing to do with "who shot John."

1980, Leonard S Janofsky, “On the Roads to Regulatory Reform”, in American Bar Association Journal

... Adjudication procedures are great for "who shot John" questions, but not for the great mass of policy issues which will come before the Board in its first few years.

1985, JT O'Reilly, LABOR LAW COLLOQUIUM: The First Anniversary of the Ohio Public Sector Collective Bargaining Law

NOBODY REALLY cares who shot John. That's because who shot John is inherently dismissive, always used in the sense of a question that the speaker is not about to answer because it involves loathsome finger-pointing, unworthy of the fair-minded.

1986 December 21, William Safire, "On Language", New York Times, Sect. 6, pg. 6

This "Who-Shot-John" stuff about "Love thine enemy" is all very pretty, but I would rather have a little regard and do a good turn for a man that has proved himself my friend by having stuck to the organization that has raised my wages and thereby making It possible for me to give my family more of the necessities of life.

1917 April, Hal B. Stroup, “letter”, in The Bricklayer, mason and plasterer, volume 20, Bricklayers, Masons, and Plasterers International Union of America, page 25

He never raised the topic of religion, but if it did happen to come up, he would promptly close the conversation by dismissing the entire subject as “a bunch of who shot John".

2016, Charles B. Dew, The Making of a Racist: A Southerner Reflects on Family, History, and the Slave Trade

I know this topic goes both ways because there are women who also fall short in this area and need to douche on a regular basis with the way they are running around smelling like “who shot John”. However, the topic is on you men […]

2012, Cattina C. Coleman, To Have, To Hold, and To Never Let Go