And a tip o’ the hat to all for St. Patrick’s day 2026.
Padraig (Patrick) is, of course, the patron saint of Ireland. And an official saint of the Roman Catholic Church, which claims him for Rome as the first bishop of Ireland. That is, of course, one of the many legends about Irish history that we know today to be wrong. (No, that isn’t him in the picture!)
Irish history is lost in the infamous mists of time (so Irish) and buried under the bright green of the island’s sod (again, so Irish). Popular history speaks of Celts as being the “indigenous” people of an Eire (Ireland) who were colonized and disinherited by evil Norman and English invaders (aided by their minion warriors and settlers of Scotland).
It is much more complicated, of course. The history of Eire is indeed very much like that of North America (Turtle Island): a constant series of invasions, occupation, colonization, and war. The first known humans to occupy the island, probably still connected to Britain and the continent at the time are called “mesolithic” (middle stone age) hunters and gatherers. These people, and perhaps those who settled among them later and called megalithic builders and farmers, are perhaps remembered as the Fir Bolg, a face of giants defeated by the invading Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology.
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The Price of Liberty 
Lookiing back: Alarmism and fearmongering in 1968
1968 was an interesting year. Several of us here at The Price of Liberty recall that rather fateful year. For us, the impact of events of 1968 still is resonating around the world, and especially the States, in 2026.
Many people will recall that year as the year of assassinations: Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F Kennedy (Sr.) were killed by assassins in April and June. Of note, RFK was killed by Sirhan Sirhan, born in Jerusalem and nominally a “christian” who immigrated to California, where he grew angry of RFK’s support of Israel and the Six-Day War of 1967 which saw Israel gain control of his birthplace. 58 years later those same issues lead to deaths and destruction. As do the racial political issues that lay behind the killing of King.
The decision of the successor to RFK’s brother JFK (Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson) to not run, and RFK’s killing, led to Richard Nixon defeating Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 election. We note that by current, 2026, standards, neither RFK, LBJ, JFK, nor HHH would be considered acceptable as Democrats. In 1968, the American-Vietnam phase of the Great Asian War was three years old, and would last another six or seven (depending on what event is considered the end of that phase). In contrast to the present show of “sorrow” over the thirteen American military deaths in the present Iran war, American war in Vietnam saw more than 50,000 American military die. In a time when the States had only 200 million people, as compared to pushing 350 million in 2026!
Which brings us to an event in 1968 that is seldom recalled, which nevertheless still has a major impact on the world of 2026. That was the publication of The Population Bomb by Professor Paul Ehrlich and his wife Anne, of Stanford. (Paul Ehrlich died on 13 March 2026.)
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