Kathryn Swegart

Award-winning author of children's books with Catholic themes, including the best seller Heavenly Hosts: Eucharistic Miracles for Kids. Happy Secular Franciscan

[Royally Sage @sage1411]

My brother posts this every year in the family chat on the 4th. Still hilarious.

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

New Puzzle Book! Great summer fun!https://t.co/mECLQOiNq1

[Fr Joseph Hudson @acloudofsaints]

POV: When the bishops of your country consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and suddenly this happens.

[MAGA Voice @MAGAVoice]

BREAKING: Elon Musk just reposted the tower of Jesus Christ illuminated for the first time to his 240 Million Followers

JESUS CHRIST IS KING 🙏

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

https://t.co/wjwPnThiCF

[Andrew Daub @TheResoluteLife]

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” - Romans 5:3-4

Last week a story went viral that says a difficult life isn’t worth living. I want to offer a different perspective:

The Hard Road Is The Point.

There’s a growing lie baked into modern culture that life is supposed to be smooth. Convenient. Perfect. That if things are difficult, something’s gone wrong. That suffering is a malfunction, not a feature.

So people spend their lives optimizing for comfort. Avoiding friction and inconvenience. Looking for the shortcut, the hack, the easier path.

And they miss the whole point.

The beauty of a life well-lived isn’t found despite the struggle - it’s forged inside it. Character doesn’t grow in comfort. It grows under pressure, strain, stress and adversity. Gratitude doesn’t come from ease. It comes from having walked through something hard and making it to the other side.

The ancient understanding - the one we’ve traded for comfort - is that suffering carries meaning. That the valley isn’t a detour. It is the journey.

Truth is, when you strip away the hard parts, you don’t get a better life. You get a shallow one.

Because the rough road isn’t a sign you’re doing it wrong.

It might be the surest sign you’re doing it right.

My son Iron Will has Down syndrome. He spent his earliest months in a walker just to build the strength to stand. Every step was a fight. Every inchstone and milestone was hard won. And watching him work, really work, for things that come effortlessly to other kids didn’t break my heart. It expanded it. Because what I saw wasn’t limitation. I saw determination unencumbered by societal expectations. I saw joy that doesn’t depend on easy. I saw a little boy who gets up every single time, grins, and goes again on his own terms, at his own pace.

My brave little son didn’t teach me about suffering. He taught me what it looks like to pursue life fully - without fear, without shortcuts, and without ever being told what he can’t do.

When we decide a life will be too hard before it begins - based on the inherent limitations of our mortal understanding - we end a story before it ever has the chance to be written.

We will never tell Iron Will, or any of our children, that the hard road isn’t worth it.

Because the greatest stories ever told involve suffering that produces endurance that produces character that produces hope.

And hope changes everything.

#TeamIronWill #DownSyndromeAdvocacy #IronWill #SayYesToPossibility

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

https://t.co/UhBDZnMXJa

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

@JimSanoBC79 @Truth_matters20 Good question.

[The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee]

We Asked AI To Simulate The First Woman President And The Results Are Exactly What You Expect

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

@JimSanoBC79 @BIG_SGT_D Willful ignorance.

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

@JimSanoBC79 @Truth_matters20 Danny needs to do more research..WAY off base on the Shroud.

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

https://t.co/cerTV0ISlR

[Rep. Laurel Libby @laurel_libby]

Who at DHHS approved this home health agency… “operating” out of a trailer??

Don’t tell me there was a site visit.

There is no accountability for taxpayers under @GovJanetMills.

[Kat @katagious2]

Graham Planter has cited chronic physical damage to his body including herniated discs, shoulder injuries, and knee issues from "getting blown up". He's also spoken about suffering from severe depression, isolation, and a loss of purpose but Collins health is our concern?

[Reagan Paul @RepReaganPaul]

Look at these turbines.

See the dark streaks on the blades and running out of the nacelle?

That’s oil.

This is what they call “green energy.”

Inside these turbines are gearboxes, hydraulic systems, grease lines, coolants, and industrial lubricants. When seals fail or systems wear out, that oil leaks out at hundreds of feet in the air and gets sprayed across the surrounding land. And it’s not just oil—PFAS (“forever chemicals”) from the specialized coatings on the blades and towers, designed to resist erosion and weather, are getting abraded and spread into the environment too. Plus, the fiberglass and composite blades themselves erode over time from rain, hail, and operation, shedding microplastics and fibers right into the air, soil, and water below.

And nobody wants to talk about what happens next.

This toxic cocktail does not disappear.

It lands in the soil.

It coats grasses and brush.

It contaminates the ground insects and pollinators depend on.

It disrupts the microorganisms that keep soil healthy and alive.

Repeated exposure can leave dead patches of ground and long-term soil degradation underneath and around these towers—now laced with persistent PFAS that never break down and microplastics that accumulate in the ecosystem.

Rain then carries these contaminants, leaching them into nearby streams, rivers, and waterways, where toxins spread further downstream—sometimes for miles—affecting aquatic life, drinking water sources, and entire watersheds.

Then wildlife gets exposed.

Birds land on contaminated surfaces.

Small mammals walk through it.

Animals ingest it while feeding and grooming.

Insects decline first. Then everything above them in the food chain feels it after.

PFAS and other toxins bioaccumulate, magnifying the damage up the chain.

And this is happening while politicians and environmental activists lecture rural America about protecting nature.

Think about the irony.

Oil and gas workers are treated like environmental criminals while thousands of industrial wind turbines sit across open country leaking petroleum-based products, shedding microplastics, releasing PFAS, and leaching toxins into soil and waterways on the same land they claim to be saving.

At the end of the day, this is industrial-scale energy infrastructure with real environmental costs. But because wind and solar are intermittent, renewable setups have to be massively overbuilt with far more turbines, transmission lines, and backup systems just to approach power delivery, multiplying the land use, materials, and pollution footprint even further.

The difference is one industry gets demonized while the other gets taxpayer subsidies and media protection.

Maine deserves honest conversations about energy, land, wildlife, and the environment.

We deserve better than fake environmentalist groups profiting off of the grift.

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

@JimSanoBC79 @Truth_matters20 Have you seen this book? https://t.co/UuP65450oN
It might be helpful in responding to atheists. I reviewed the movie version The Story of Everything...excellent.https://t.co/nAZYSQtOSv

[Kathryn Swegart @KSwegart]

@JimSanoBC79 @JoshuaBarzon

[Kat @katagious2]

As Maine Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows oversees elections while running for Governor. Acting as both referee and candidate creates conflicts, invites doubt in key decisions, and risks undermining public trust in the fairness and legitimacy of the results.

[Maine Wire Jon @MaineWireJon]

EDITORIAL: “Welcome Thy Stranger”… Unless They Work for the Maine Wire

By Jon Fetherston 

“Welcome thy stranger and love thy neighbor.”

That’s the slogan politicians love to repeat. It’s the message plastered across campaign mailers, speeches, and social media posts.

Unless, apparently, that stranger works for The Maine Wire.

That is the reality in Maine in 2026.
At this point, I’ve been thrown out of so many Democratic events that I’ve lost count.
Not ignored. Not brushed aside. Thrown out.

Was all media excluded from a Somali rally in Lewiston?

Nope… just The Maine Wire.

Was all media excluded from the Democratic convention in Portland?
Nope… just us.

“Just you… you’re not welcome here.”

That’s what we were told.

Banned from an event featuring Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

Stonewalled when asking Governor Janet Mills about Gateway Community Services.

Blocked from access inside the House chamber in Augusta.

And yet, they still talk about transparency.
They still talk about democracy.
They still talk about freedom of the press.

Here’s the truth they don’t seem to understand:

There is no bigger compliment to a reporter than being treated like a threat.

So let me ask the obvious question:

What exactly are Maine Democrats afraid of?

Are they afraid that I almost never ask a question I don’t already know the answer to?

Are they afraid that I do my homework?

Are they afraid that I know nonsense when I see it?

Or are they afraid of something even simpler…accountability?

Because journalism, at its core, is accountability.

Not comfort. Not applause. Not access for access’s sake.

Accountability.

And yet, the pattern is clear: When the questions get tough, the doors get closed.

I shouldn’t be feared. I don’t want to be feared.
I try to be professional. I try to be balanced. I firmly believe there are three sides to every story…yours, mine, and the truth somewhere in the middle.

But when one side refuses to answer questions, refuses to engage, and refuses to allow coverage… it raises a bigger question than any reporter could ask.

What are they trying to hide?

Whatever the answer is, keep it coming.

Because the truth is, I’ve spent most of my adult life living on what I like to call “Truth Island”… sometimes alone, sometimes unpopular, but always confident that facts eventually win.
Even if it takes longer than we’d like.

So to those who show us the door…thank you.

Truly.

Because while you may think exclusion weakens us, it does the opposite.

The Maine Wire is growing… fast. Lean. Focused. Efficient. And yes, willing to have a little fun along the way.

Widely read.

Widely watched.

And apparently…widely feared.

So thank you for the compliment.

And to the next person who says, “You must leave” … just remember:
Sometimes the joke is on you.
Because even when you think you’ve kept us out…

We still get the story.

Have a good weekend.
@TheMaineWire @DNC @MaineDems

[Lila Rose @LilaGraceRose]

Every parent needs to see this.

Shocking MRI study on preschoolers (ages 3-5) reveals that just 2 hours of daily interactive screen time is causing measurable LOSS of white matter in their developing brains. 

This directly impairs language, literacy, and neural connectivity. 

Little brains need real-world play, love, and human connection — not devices rewiring them before kindergarten. 

Protect your children. Put the screens down.