by Peter Boyles | Oct 19, 2026 | Blasting with Boyles
Those were the words of old Blue Eyes, and they now are the words of 83-year-old Green Eyes.
I was a huge proponent of the COVID vaccine, telling my vast radio audience to get the shots. Now, these many years later, what does the evidence tell us?
First of all, begin with Dr. Fauci’s appearance before the House, looking much like Frank Costello at the Kefauver crime commission hearings. At least mob boss Costello told the senators more than Fauci when he said, “At least I paid my income taxes.” Fauci didn’t reveal it at the time, but we now know, thanks to his diaries, that even he suffered a blood clot after getting the vaccine.
So, what could go wrong? What about long-term damage? Major national academies’ reviews found evidence of a link between Pfizer and several claims, including heart attacks and other suspected conditions. And remember, they call their own balls and strikes. There seems to remain insufficient evidence to reach firm conclusions. But that doesn’t mean everything has been ruled out.
In the aftermath of me riding the needle three times, I had a mild stroke and then a brain bleed. And apparently, I’m not alone. The other important questions seem to be broken down between the different manufacturers of the COVID shots and their effects on heart, brain, and overall health. The honest answer is that different COVID vaccines did not have all the same risks. I read a 2024 review by the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. They confirmed some serious side effects and other suspected links, and found the evidence was insufficient for many remaining questions.
Effects on our hearts, heart rhythm procedures and abnormal heart findings.
That sounds a lot like me. Effects on the brain and nervous system. Ask my radio audience and the people who read this column if that hasn’t come shining through.
Permanent brain damage? The evidence is not yet there, but it doesn’t rule out neurological damage. And remember that every possible long-term symptom has not been explained.
When you read these studies—and I’m not educated enough to be the arbiter—they seem to have conclusions without having conclusions.
Heart attacks, blood clots, long-term illness, and fatigue. Some people reported ongoing health problems after COVID vaccinations, and researchers continue to study these cases.
I don’t know about you, but flu season has come again. And so, what’s my bottom line? The mystery risks differ by vaccine, age, sex, and medical circumstances. But I think I got knocked out of the box by three times going to see the health provider, and now you can simply tell me what worries you the most: getting COVID, or what the evidence really doesn’t actually show but a hell of a lot of people now feel?
Happy Thanksgiving.
by Peter Boyles | Sep 29, 2026 | Blasting with Boyles
Blasting with Boyles
OPINION
After 9/11, during the George W. Bush presidency, the unity in this country was amazing. Americans rallied around Bush and the government. Bush’s approval rating went from 51% before to 86% within weeks. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats approved of W’s performance. There was bipartisan support for going after Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Pew Research Center describes the response as initially characterized by national unity. And then it starts to fall apart.
Bush signed the Patriot Act; the Senate voted 98 to 1. Bush, Cheney, and company emphasized fighting terrorism and somehow protecting you.
But Iraq became the Bush administration’s used car. They told us of the danger posed by Saddam Hussein, Iraq, and his involvement in 9/11. The decision to invade Iraq in 2003 begins the total downfall of it all.
The political divide widened. By January 2003, fewer than 4 in 10 Americans thought Bush had made his case for an Iraq invasion.
There was no justification for this war. Think back. As casualties accumulated and the occupation became prolonged, by the end of W’s presidency only 24% approved of his job performance. The unity that we all felt in those terrible days was destroyed by Bush and Cheney. The post-9/11 rally faded and ordinary politics returned.
Iraq was the major catalyst. Pew’s retrospective assessment specifically identified the Iraq war that followed 9/11. Also, the schizophrenic behavior. For example, George Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., and explicitly defended Muslims. We know Saddam was not a religious man. That makes his claims of Muslim terrorism more complicated than just saying Bush abandoned unity.
Bush/Cheney claimed Saddam Hussein and Iraq possessed chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. In December 2002, Bush/Cheney claimed disarming Iraq was the central commitment of the war on terror. And we all know now what total lies they were. On March 17, 2003, Bush told Americans that Iraq had failed to disarm after 12 years of demands and efforts that failed. And, of course, it came as no surprise that after the invasion, investigators did not find any stockpiles of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11, and by this time all unity and love for one another had totally faded.
Saddam never cooperated with Al-Qaeda to attack our country. And when the weapons were not found, it didn’t seem to matter to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. They said that Saddam needed to be removed from office regardless. Senate Intelligence later concluded the intelligence community openly lied.
There was no certainty with the intelligence that was presented to go on to lose more than 4,400 American lives. No one will ever know the number wounded, both physically and emotionally. No one knows how many Iraqis suffered the same. Or Afghans, or anything that was to come our way.
I’ve read the Senate Intelligence Committee report. There was nothing that supported Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld claims about underground WMD facilities. Bush lied. There were no weapons.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the basic message was: We’ve been attacked, so find the people responsible. Turns out, a handful of American-hating, by-and-large Saudis hiding in the caves of Tora Bora. They were the ones.
Now we’re left with two separate historical questions: the intelligence community, and the need for clarity before any president takes this nation into war.
Had Bush/Cheney policies been in place, the headline would be December 7, 1941: “The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.” December 8, 1941: “FDR invades Mexico.” We now know 14 of the 19 murderers on that terrible morning were Saudis. And the trail leads back to many prominent Saudi Arabians as funders of the killers.
And I leave you with this: We gotta stop these people from getting a nuclear weapon, so let’s go to war. Where have we heard this before? History is a study of not what we want to remember, but rather what we need to remember.
— Peter Boyles
by Peter Boyles | Aug 20, 2026 | Blasting with Boyles
OPINION
I don’t think it’s any great surprise to anyone with a room-temperature-or-above IQ that the principal state races are a joke and have already been predetermined.
The Democrat Party has done too good a job in Colorado, turning a purple state into a true one-party state, a little like the good ole Stalinist USSR. They’ve done this, starting in 2016, by combining mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting. As one sage political analyst noted, “Where one political party ballot harvests votes in an election and the other political party doesn’t, the ballot-harvesting party will win every time.”
Why doesn’t the Republican Party in Colorado engage in the perfectly legal practice of ballot harvesting? It’s in part due to a lack of funds and any appreciable ground game, but, as the sage political analyst opined, “There is a reason why the Republican Party is known throughout Colorado as the ‘Party of Stupid.’”
Yes, the Dems are going to take their brooms out on election night and sweep every important statewide race in Colorado. But that does not mean you should not bother to vote in November, as there are at least 15 statewide ballot initiatives, including two tax measures that will help determine the future economic status of the state. Moreover, the Democrats haven’t yet figured out how to rig the results of statewide ballot measures, at least as far as we presently know.
There are different kinds of propositions. You’ve got citizen-initiated ballot measures that require a certain number of petition signatures. We’ve all been approached by people at a shopping center asking us to sign our names. Eight measures have already qualified for the ballot under this procedure. The other route is when the legislature refers issues to the ballot.
There are competing income tax proposals headed for voters. Proposition 195 creates a graduated income tax soaking the rich — which will undoubtedly eventually comprise anyone not at the poverty level or below — while Proposition 232 caps the tax rate. If they both pass, then we are in the Wild West. If the graduated tax passes, it is effectively the end of TABOR, and that will bring you the economy of Chicago and Illinois.
It’s not as if the State and the City and County of Denver haven’t already done enough to drive companies out of Colorado. If Proposition 195 passes, a lot of economists view this as the beginning of the end times for the Colorado economy.
If the tax-rate cap passes, it will prevent endless efforts by the legislature to raise your taxes.
Another measure that caught my eye is Proposition 175 — roads. I just came back once again from the Hajj to Sturgis, South Dakota, and I could not help but notice how incredible the roads in South Dakota and Wyoming are. You know when you’re back in Colorado even without a sign because the roads are so bad. Proposition 175, in essence, says money raised by taxes on roads must be spent on roads, not whatever pet project the Democrats come up with that has nothing to do with roads.
Another interesting measure is Proposition 177, which gives a constitutional right to buy natural gas for cooking and heating, as well as providing producers with the right to sell it. I am sure that, like you, I have always subconsciously read the U.S. Constitution as guaranteeing all citizens the right to “life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and buying natural gas for cooking or heating in homes or businesses.”
Gee, I wonder if oil and gas producers and public utilities are behind this one.
Finally, there are two propositions concerning trans issues — Propositions 109 and 110.
Proposition 109 would prohibit biological boys from competing in girls’ sporting events in schools, while Proposition 110 would prohibit health care professionals from performing certain surgeries on minors “for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics.”
Opponents of these measures properly point out: How dare these right-wing do-gooders interfere with those people who enjoy watching biological males beat up on biological females in sporting events and the huge sums some doctors in Colorado are raking in while they gender-mutilate minor children.
There will be at least 10 other measures for your reading pleasure whenever you undertake the no-small task of filling out your ballot.
If you’re a Democrat, be sure to fulfill your traditional duty of voting early and voting often.
Colorado Republicans, you are so pathetic, what difference does it make?
— Peter Boyles
by Peter Boyles | Jul 23, 2026 | Blasting with Boyles
Blasting With Boyles
OPINION
When I left KLAK and the morning show almost 40 years ago and headed to talk radio, looming in the city was The Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, powerful AM stations like KOA and KHOW. Channel 9 had Ed Sardella and Adele Arakawa, and before them Carl Akers. Opposing them were Bob Palmer and John Lindsey. Between the editorial blessings of the Post and Rocky Mountain News, and how KOA presented the news, and how the television stations of the ’80s presented the news, it was a very different time. They would have taken a candidate like Marx and beat him like a baby harp seal. He would have never survived even the primary.
It’s now been dubbed corporate talk radio. And we’re down to one newspaper, The Denver Post, that people only seem to read for the sports. In the timeframe we’re alluding to, receiving the editorial blessing for any candidate was a true gift. Almost as good as Patty Calhoun’s Westword talking about which person in Denver television had the best hair. (winky, wink).
Now Victor Marx treated Channel 9’s Kyle Clark like he was one half of a comedy routine. Even as far as saying that his dog would bite Clark. Treating Kyle like the punchline in a joke. Talk radio, including myself, attempted to expose Victor Marx for the true fraud that he is. And guess what? The Republican candidate for governor is none other than Victor Marx.
And having survived in this business for many years in radio, and TV, and writing, what does that now say to me, as well as corporate talk and corporate ownership of TV news? It says we no longer matter.
The biggest losers in this primary are Barbara Kirkmeyer, Scott Bottoms, and the mainstream media. It’s the equivalent of the presidential runs of Pat Paulsen.
Now what will happen when Victor Marx meets Phil Weiser? I don’t know about you, but I think they can sell tickets a hundred bucks a shot for ringsides when Victor has to go up against Phil. The real significant question of that is, who do you want? Which one could more quickly destroy the state of Colorado that’s already in the destruction mode.
Believe it or not, I got Victor Marx on the points.
My friends say it doesn’t matter because the democrats cheat. See if Victor Marx can put a headlock on Phil Weiser and get a three count. Or for that matter, whether he debates at all.
And that doesn’t mean that it’s just Marx who won’t want to debate. I have a difficult time thinking Weiser will be on the other podium.
If there is a debate, you can bet Channel 9 and their team, and Kyle Clark would have the conn. And Victor Marx will make fun of them all.
Whatever, it’s certainly going to be more fun to watch than when the space cadet Joe Biden stepped out to debate Donald Trump when Trump had him at hello. Don’t you miss William Randolph Hurst, Edward R. Murrow, and Drew Pearson?
This is going to be fun to watch, and frightening, for an outcome. See you next month.
— Peter Boyles
by Peter Boyles | Jun 29, 2026 | Blasting with Boyles
Blasting with Boyles
OPINION
What does the media have in common with the first three? Not much.
I am a UFC MMA fan. I tried to fight as a young man and wasn’t very successful, but I think I understand the mind of a fighter. So, I bought the Paramount Plus Sunday Night Fights on the White House lawn. And frankly, the last fight of the night may have been the greatest I’ve ever seen. It was incredible.
Next comes patriotism. It’s how I feel, my love, devotion, or attachment to this country. Or maybe a combination of my childhood, my young adulthood, and now as an old man. Folks, this is one hell of a country. And it did come in loud and proud and standing tall Sunday night.
I watched the fighters come out of the Oval Office and the media being so upset that “the Oval Office was being used as a locker room.”
I don’t recall that same media being so upset when Bill Clinton was using the Map Room, where FDR planned the defeat of the Axis, for his personal bordello.
Did you see CNN having a cow over that? But by God, a UFC fighter has more guts and more heart than all those media idiots combined to walk into a ring to do something none of the doofuses ever did in their lives.
Or the Congressional Medal of Honor awardee in a wheelchair being pushed to the ring by a young GI on one side and a 9/11 hero on the other side.
The Marines were lined up on both sides of the ring and, as the group went by, snapped off a sharp salute.
These media clowns actually thought that Donald Trump told the Marines to salute. If they knew anything about what it took to get awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, they would know four-star generals salute them. But, of course, you would have to know something beyond the capabilities of those newsrooms.
The next big thing of the night was a UFC fighter calling Michelle Obama a man after he won his fight and then shaking Trump’s hand. Once again, I harken them back to Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay. In June of 1961, he met professional wrestler Gorgeous George in Las Vegas. Young Cassius was in town to fight Duke Sabedong.
George was in town to wrestle Freddie Blassie, the King of Men. Both made the media rounds to hype their shows, and they crossed paths. A young Muhammad looked at how many people came to see him fight and how many came to watch George. George sold 13,000 seats that night for five minutes with Freddie.
But he started being a big mouth and a braggart on Las Vegas radio. Ali later said that people came to see him get beat; others came to see him win. Either way, he kept them coming. He taught Ali, who loved pro wrestling as a kid, that was the night he became the Louisville Lip, shooting his mouth off about who he was going to beat. He went from a quiet young man to becoming the greatest of all time.
Sunday night, Josh Hokit simply performed what professional wrestlers have known for decades. People now will come and buy tickets to watch him get beat. He knew it. I know it.
I was trying to keep a record of how many headlines I could find tying Hokit to Donald Trump. I ran out after counting 50.
Trump, like him or not, had nothing to do with that. Hokit knew that if he did that, he would be the center of attention, just like the young Ali understood it. But morning television reports didn’t have a clue.
I had tears in my eyes watching what Jerry Jeff Walker said in one of my favorite songs, “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” where Jerry Jeff sings, “These are heroes of our country,” and asks why they are dressed up like these old men. Screw a bunch of CNN, MSNOW, NBC, CBS, ABC, and morning newspapers and talking heads.
Insiders look at you and say, “Happy birthday, 250 years, United States of America.”
And you’re right. We did come in loud as compared to Jane Fonda and the drag show hosting an alternative event. That shows you exactly where this country is headed.
More next month when we take a look at public schools and what they are teaching Muffy and Buffy.
Happy Birthday, America.
— Peter Boyles
