Janice Dean Is The Storm
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Welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz and really do appreciate you taking time to spend some time with us. I hope you find this entertaining and informative and just fun. This week we're going to talk through the news. We're going to highlight the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then of course we're going to phone a friend. This time we're actually going to sit in person. It's going to be even better because I am thrilled that we have Janice Dean here.

You know her from Fox and Fox News weather. She's got some incredible books out. Just one of those happy warriors out there. She's gone through some tough stuff in her life, and we're going to talk about that and what she went through, particularly with COVID and her in-laws. And it's just I mean, it really is. It'll touch your heart and it'll make you mad at the same time.

But she's just an amazing woman. And I just love those perpetually happy warriors who get out there and just do amazing things. And Janice is one of those. So, again, thank you so much for joining us. And let's start with a little bit about what's in the news. And I want to kick things off with this whole, you know, it's been out there for a little bit now. But the classified versus unclassified. You know, you got people saying, oh, my goodness, wait a sec.

Joe Biden was housing classified information in a non-classified setting. Let me highlight something here that's a little bit behind the scenes that don't get as much time to talk about it, but a podcast is a really good place to talk about that. About 30 years ago, the senator from New York, he did a really good service out there and they did an analysis of data that was out there and information.

And came to the conclusion that there was basically his quote was, when everything's classified, nothing is classified. There is a practice in Congress where everything is, I don't want to say everything, a lot of it is over classified.

People and agencies will immediately stamp classified on it to protect against embarrassment, to hide what they're doing and how they're doing it. Because at their heart of hearts, I can tell you almost every one of the government bureaucrats I've been out there that I've talked to and interacted with do not appreciate or understand that the United States is different.

Okay, we are self-critical. They fundamentally forget that the government works for the people. The people are in charge. Yet they tended to want to shun and make it as difficult for the average person to get out there and see this type of information.

And so you're not going to put out weapons systems details. You're not going to put out the schedule that's classified of which door the president's going to walk through or not. You know, there is a legitimate place.

for lots of classified information. But the bulk of it, I would venture to say even the majority of it, does not deserve to be classified. But there are different degrees of classification, and they have some very specific names. And rather than kind of giving you a class on that, there are things that are sensitive or law enforcement, just sensitive stuff. Then there's other stuff that if people got that information, they could be tortured and killed.

You know, when I was doing investigations and they led us to Hillary Clinton because of all the stupid stuff that was going on in Benghazi and everything else, guess what happened, folks? We wanted to see the data and information. But this so-called classified information, which was under subpoena, ended up being, in many cases, destroyed. So think about that. Classified information under subpoena and it's bleach-bitted and destroyed. Right.

Yet another situation with Hillary Clinton where the intelligence community found out through the inspector general there of the intelligence committee that she had classified information just sitting at her office. They didn't have the proper security clearance. I wanted to see that information to give it my own assessment. I was the chairman of the oversight committee and before that I was the chairman of the national security subcommittee.

But the classification was so high that even as a chairman of the committee, I couldn't review it because it was sensitive, compartmentalized information such that only a handful, I mean, less than 20 people knew it. And it would give operational details.

of informants within other governments that if that information got out, inevitably they would be tortured. They're probably their family members would be tortured and they would certainly be killed. It was that serious and sensitive that deserves classification.

So we have the Hillary Clinton situation, which the media just yawned at, right? They didn't really care. Then all of a sudden, oh my goodness, Donald Trump has some classified information. Well, he says it's declassified and he could do that as the president. So we have that situation. And then they raid him with an FBI raid. I mean, think about it. This stuff is protected by the United States Secret Service. They could have called up Secret Service and said, hey, is he in town? Is he out of town? Well, he happened to be out of town.

They could have gone over, knocked on the door. Instead, they came in guns a blazing. They literally television crews were there to film it all, you know, make a big dramatic scene out of this thing. It was done politically to embarrass Donald Trump. Joe Biden made many comments about this and how much how wrong he thought it was. And then we just found out a short while ago that, oh, Joe Biden had classified documents in his setting. But there's no raid documents.

They weren't protected by people who do have security clearances. How do we know that this is the total universe of documents? Why is the FBI raiding that University of Pennsylvania office that Joe Biden, once he left office, had? How do we know that that's the whole thing? We don't.

And so now you have this U.S. attorney going to go in and probe. I think one of the first questions is, is that the total university documents? And then you got to understand to what degree. And let's understand that there's no excuse to having classified documents in a non classified setting. There just isn't. But Donald Trump can change the classification and Joe Biden can't as a vice president. You can't do that. Anyway, I'm just saying that that needs to be looked at much, much further.

The other thing that I want to be able to talk, I wanted to talk about and mention, I don't know if anybody had a chance to watch because it happened late at night. But when Kevin McCarthy became the Speaker of the House, it is traditional and customary for the other party, the minority leader, to make some limited comments, congratulate the new person and hand the gavel to him.

Instead, you had Hakeem Jeffries go on and give an essentially arousing political speech as if he was a Democratic fundraiser, yelling, screaming, you know, passionately doing his thing, and then saying it was his responsibility. He didn't really congratulate Kevin. His responsibility to hand the gavel over to Kevin McCarthy. On the other hand, I thought Kevin McCarthy was pitch perfect. I thought it was one of the best speeches I've ever heard him make.

I think he spoke from the heart and that he would disagree with Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats on a regular basis, but it would never be personal. It would be about policy. And that is the right approach to take. I really think that that's the right place to approach. All right, let's move on and talk about the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right, I want to go and talk about Jill Biden. I don't think she did anything wrong in this particular instance.

But, you know, the first lady, she was there, according to foxnews.com, cooking with a gas stove. She was doing some cooking stuff. It was so, I mean, just benign things, just cooking. But the fact that it was gas, it was natural gas that was propelling the heat to be able to cook this stuff, it looks to me like it's, you know, like, you know, some sort of spinach or something like that. And then she gets, you know,

blasted out there for, you know, cooking with gas. You know, Ted Cruz pointed out rules for thee, but not for me. It's just like, we're so silly. We're talking about the ability for Americans to cook on their stovetop. And there's a group of people out there that want to get rid of natural gas.

Oh my goodness. Do you know how expensive it is to change your system at your house? If you were to convert from, say, natural gas to electricity. And by the way, do you know how you generate electricity if you were going to go to that type of heating system? It's going to be coal, folks. Or it might be natural gas that helps propel the electricity.

It's not going to be some solar farm out there. Maybe a little portion of it is. Maybe some will be geothermal. But, you know, in the United States, about 22% of what we do is nuclear. Well, the greenies that far left, they're all opposed to that as well. It's like even when you come up with the cleanest energy we have on the planet, nuclear, they're not satisfied with that.

And so here's the first lady just doing a little cooking. I mean, come on. And somehow that ends up being an issue. Give me a break. The second one that I want to highlight is Keith Oberman. Now, Keith Oberman has way outlasted his 15 minutes of fame. I don't know why anybody listens to him. Anybody pays any attention to him.

I don't even know what he did, but somehow he got himself banned from Twitter until he was using his dog's account.

But now he's all going apoplectic over this idea that, again, oh, we're going to get him to the classified data. The guy is unable to have an adult conversation about anything that is serious out there. And I hesitate to even mention it because you don't even go listen to the guy. It'll end up putting you in the stupid category. But that wraps up the stupid category.

All right. Now I want to talk about something that's much more productive. Somebody that I'm actually very, I look at with great admiration and that is Janice Dean. And she is just a wonderful human being. You've seen her on Fox and Friends, particularly those of you on the East Coast up early doing the Fox weather. She's been at Fox for a long, long time now. But she's got a fascinating story in her life. And so Janice,

I got a chance to sit down with her and this is when she and I got to go through. Let's listen to the conversation I had with Janice Dean. So I am so thrilled that we are in person. I'm excited about that too. Yeah, I'm really excited. You know, one of the great things, my joining the Fox family is just getting to know some people that I've watched on TV for a long time. I mean, let's be honest, when I was in Washington, D.C.,

I'm watching that early morning stuff and I don't know, I've seen you for years and I've seen you on the hallways and gotten to know you and I still have your energy and you're happy to see me. I think people want to be around people that are happy and I just find you to be perpetually happy. Well, I feel the same way about you. I don't hang out with grumpy people. Yeah, like life's too short. Exactly. But I think I've gone through some hard things and I think you've gone through some hard, difficult things. Yeah.

And, you know, sometimes it's hard to, you know, put the smile on the face and, you know, and keep going and,

But I want to learn a little bit more about you and like growing up. And so go back to, hey, I was born in. And then let's start and roll from there. Okay. So I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And I didn't live in Toronto very long. We moved to Ottawa, the nation's capital, I think when I was one. So I grew up in Ottawa. I moved to Houston, Texas in...

That's a difference. Yeah, very much. What were your parents doing? So my mom was a homemaker, but she worked with Air Canada before she met my father. They met at a wedding in Toledo, Ohio, and that's how that all started. And my dad was an American, grew up, actually was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, and grew up around the Chicago area. But his dad worked for...

And they traveled all around the world with his family. Hey, Sears was the company at the time. At the time, yeah. Hey, when that Sears catalog came. It was a big deal, right? It was a big deal. It was really good. And those catalogs, by the way, I think you can get them on eBay for thousands of dollars. I'm not joking. Should have kept those big. It's so true. These are like two inch thick. Remember? Remember we used to. There is everything. Of course. It was basically Amazon. Yes. The Sears catalog. In print form. That's right. Yes.

So they met, fell in love, and then my dad moved to Canada. And he gave up his U.S. citizenship.

And in the 80s, during the Clinton administration, Brian Mulroney was our prime minister at the time. My mom saw in the Globe and Mail, one of the Toronto newspapers, that through the free trade agreement, part of that was if you were an American citizen and you gave up your citizenship, you could now get it back if you moved to Canada. And so he did that. And in the process, I became a dual citizen.

So I feel really blessed that, you know, when I was in my broadcasting career, I wanted to live in the U.S., you know, live the American dream. And I was able to do that fairly easily because my dad got his American citizenship back. And now my kids have Canadian citizenship. So they're dual citizens as well. Yeah. Yeah.

And let's see, I went to college, high school, college. I was a pretty good student, took broadcasting, radio, television, broadcasting. The weather part of it, I was working at a classic rock. Wait, wait, wait. What? Let's go back here. Oh, you really want to keep going. No, no, no. Well, I just there's certain things that are fascinating. OK, because there's usually something in life that like.

It's a little thing. Like, at least for me, it was, I got asked to, you know, hey, will you come try out for the football team? And I was on the soccer team. At that moment, I could have easily, you know, I was what, 16, 17 years old? Yeah. Nah, I got something else to do. Right. But then I did it. And then it totally changed the whole trajectory of my life. Yes.

Not everybody... I think a lot of people want to do what you do. I think they think it's fun. It's exciting. You're out there on the street talking to people. And when weather's happening and it's a disaster, they're going to you. What's going to happen next? What should I expect? A lot of people want to do that, but they don't have the skill set to do that. So were you like...

When you were 10, were you like playing and your parents would say, okay, Janice, I know we're just eating dinner here. You don't need to explain and point to everything. So a lot of meteorologists will tell you about a big storm that happened in their lives that made them question the weather or maybe getting into it. Well, your book is called I Am the Storm. Well, see, that's a different kind of storm. Yes, okay. Which we'll talk about. But-

I will say growing up in Ottawa, one of the coldest capitals of the world. Yeah, it has that reputation. Absolutely. And a lot of snow. I remember growing up with tons of snow in the wintertime. Right. And we had the world's longest outdoor skating rink with the Rideau Canal. Yeah. So there's a lot of winter where I come from. Right. And I do remember being fascinated by the TV weather people when they would forecast the weather and they would say, oh, we're going to get a foot of snow and then it wouldn't happen. Yes.

So that was a big deal, right? And that still happens, by the way. But I did it kind of backwards. Even though I always had a fascination with weather, I was really good in math and science, which is some of the subjects you have to be good at if you go into TV broadcasting that has a meteorology component to it. But I

But I started out as a classic rock DJ. I knew I wanted to do something in broadcasting. But why? Where does that come from? So as a kid, I would interview people in the neighborhood with my wooden spoon and ask them what they were doing today. See, I knew there was some weirdness in there. You're right. There is weirdness to that. Everybody I've talked to has like, well, yeah, I did do this when I was four. Right. And I have pictures of myself before I could read.

My dad had a tape recorder with the big headphones that we wear in the radio studio. And I love to hear my voice. So he would put the tape recorder on and I would read, air quotes, Alice in Wonderland. I didn't read, but I had memorized the whole book.

And I still have that tape going back to when I was like three. And I have pictures of myself like talking into a microphone. I know. So you're right. It does go back that far. Okay. So that's what I was trying to get at. So you kind of.

It was sort of in your DNA. That I wanted to be some kind of broadcaster. So you're going from high school into college. Yeah. And what opportunity popped up for you there? So I actually went to university journalism and I quit two months in. And the reason I did that, and I don't necessarily encourage people to just quit. Yeah.

But I was really frustrated. Eight weeks wasn't a whole lot of time, Jess. No, it wasn't. I was really frustrated that I couldn't do the stuff I really wanted to do. That was get out and report. Yes. I had to take like psychology and I had to do English class. What does this have to do with? Right. So I was really frustrated with that. And I thought I have to do this is going to take four years before I can actually get out on the field. So I quit and I took some time off.

And then I decided to, you know what? I was working. This is funny.

I was working during high school. One of my summer jobs that I had was working in the city hall bylaw department. OK, I was I was like an assistant to some of the secretaries that work there. Right. So the bylaw enforcement department in Ottawa is all the jobs that the cops don't want to do and all the jobs that you don't have to have a gun to do. All right. So parking tickets, parking.

barking dog calls, long grass in the neighbor's yard, those kinds of things. So I was an assistant. I would document stuff, put things into the computer. And when I decided to quit journalism school, I needed a full-time job. So I went back to my friends at the bylaw enforcement department. I said, listen, I need a full-time job while I figure out what I'm going to do with my life. And they were like, well, why don't you suit up and become a bylaw enforcement officer? I was like,

I don't know if that's a great idea, but it's a full-time job. Is that a uniform and a badge and a baton? I mean, a badge, not a baton. You do have a walkie-talkie. You would have a dispatch system. And it's funny because when I first started out, I was the one doing all the calls like...

Bylaw based to car 16. We have a 1069 on the loose. So I was doing those calls during the summertime to all these bylaw enforcement officers. We had a great time. So you kind of got a little broadcasting in there. Well, they always say that I started my broadcasting doing the dispatch calls at the bylaw enforcement center.

I did that for a couple of weeks and I was not good. I hated giving out parking tickets. I hated trying to catch the barking dogs or the dogs on the loose. So I met a fellow during my time there because part of the job was also giving out licenses for businesses. And he somehow was affiliated...

Oh, here it is. So the radio station in Ottawa, he was a salesperson for the radio station that was doing work with one of the local restaurants. So I went to a party and I met Rich and

And he worked at the classic rock station and said, well, what do you want to do? Basically, do you want to be in the bylaw enforcement department for the rest of your life? I said, no, actually, I want to be a broadcaster. You work at the classic rock station. Is there any way I can come in there and meet some of the DJs and shadow them? So that's how that started. And you're in your roughly how I was like 18 or 19.

Okay, so yeah, they got this 18 or 19 year old girl wants to come into the classic rock station. That's probably not a hard... Well, you know, I think a lot of people were looking at me strange, but I always tell people now looking back...

those 30 years ago, that you should do those things. You should go in and volunteer and shadow the news guy in the news department, do the traffic report for the traffic reporter. And I met the DJ there, Bob Cowan, who basically helped me with my career from then. And I found out about a radio television broadcasting program at Algonquin College in my hometown, which I enrolled in and graduated from. That's what's amazing. Yeah.

When you're that age and you just try something new, you never know. You never know where that's going to come from. Particularly if you have some interest and you have a little bit of inclination about it. And it's not going to be the most glamorous thing. Yours was a little bit more glamorous than most going into a classic rock station. They're doing a little Fleetwood Mac for you. Of course. CCR. Yeah. But...

That's the way it's been in my life too. It's like those things I didn't quite expect. I just had lower expectations, but then you get in there and started networking. I'm amazed how many people kind of missed that opportunity to say, Hey, I need to find mentors and build relationships. And you never know where somebody is going to say, Hey,

Janice, hey Jason, you know. I'll help you out here. Would you want to do this? Would you want to try? And I think people who are more established in their careers, probably looking at myself in the mirror at this point,

I'm amazed how few people will ask, "Hey, I could use your help. Help me network." And they're anxious to help because they know that, yeah, there were some breaks and some opportunities that happened when they were younger. And you never know either because while... So after I graduated from that program, I got a job at the competing classic rock station across the street.

And when I was doing community events for that classic rock station, that's when the TV part of it came because I was doing a lot of the charity things. I did some telethons. And.

And the news director... Wait, wait, I want you to understand. For the younger generation who maybe listens... They don't know what a telethon is? Telethons were like everywhere. There was the March of Dimes. I know, the Jerry Lewis. Right, it was a big deal. Like telethons were... And it was so fun to see. Like I remember watching a telethon and then going to bed and waking up and I wanted to see how... See how much money they received. Well, I wanted to see how tired they were. Oh, yeah.

Like, oh, they can barely... They're slurring their words. Look how tired they are. Right. Absolutely. That was the entertainment. It was the entertainment. So I did a lot of those in my day. And one of the local news directors said, you know what? You're good on television. Why don't you come in and we'll talk about that. So...

A part-time job of mine when I was working at the Classic Rock Station was as a weather person. So they just threw you in there and said, hey Janice, we've got snow coming. Right. I did a five-day forecast. Absolutely. But what I had to do was learn how to do the graphics on this really brutal computer. It took me like hours to put a cold front on the map.

So that was sort of like, and I hated it at the time because there was so much of that. Like I had to create these graphics that took so long to do. And then, you know, I love the television part of it. I love the weather part of it, but I didn't know if that's what I was going to do the rest of my life. And as it turns out, I stopped doing TV weather up until I got a job at Fox News almost 20 years ago. And the boss asked if I had ever done weather. And I

And I was like, well, as a matter of fact, I have done weather before. And when I got here and got the job, that's when I went back to school and became a broadcast meteorologist. So I was able to do that while I was at Fox. You got the job at Fox without...

Seriously? I did, yeah. Based on doing telethons? Well, no, because I did television throughout my career up until that point. So I worked mostly radio. So they knew you were good on camera. Right, because when I came to New York, I worked with Don Imus. Oh, yeah. A very famous broadcaster. I forgot about that. Yes, he passed away a little while ago. He did. But he was such a...

iconic voice. Yes. And personality. Absolutely. And he's the reason I'm here in New York. So I got that job. That's a pretty big leap. It was a big deal. Yeah. I mean, I'm in the morning. I mean that. And I don't even know what he was. Was he doing that show back? He was doing that show on WFAN and it was simulcast on MSNBC. Yeah. I remember it was awfully early. What time are you coming in? Well, the same time I get up now. What time do you get up? I get up at

3.15 a.m. Gosh, what time do you go to bed? It depends. Like last night I had a good rest. I was in bed by 8. I was reading a book and then I was probably asleep by 9. So, yeah. Does that mean you got to take a nap during the day? Sometimes. It depends. That's tough. You know, the people that work on Fox and Friends and whatnot. Yeah.

Fox and Friends is the one show that I'm aware of here at Fox where there is staff working in the Fox and Friends area 24-7. It does not matter. You can dial a number that they give you, and there's somebody at Fox and Friends working, and the crew...

they're coming in at midnight, 1 a.m. to put that show together that starts at 6 a.m. That's tough, bro. It is tough, but it's such a wonderful job that that's the hardest part is getting up. You're listening to Jason and the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Janice Dean right after this.

From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Stay on top of the latest news and information from Fox News. Listen and download the Fox News hourly update on your time. The trending stories you need anytime you want it. Listen and download now by going to foxnewspodcasts.com. Well, Fox and friends, I remember hearing Tucker Carlson said, hey, if you can...

If you can host Fox and Friends, you can do anything in broadcasting. It's like the most difficult thing because you are constantly talking about such a wide variety of issues. Yeah. I mean, and rapid fire for three hours. It's true. No, I mean, I have mad respect for those hosts. That's something I don't think I could do. I mean, I have a niche. Oh, you could do it.

Following all the news, I will say in the last couple of years, I've followed the news a little bit more closely than I normally have, you know, with what's happened here in New York and the pandemic. But I don't know. I kind of love doing what I do because, yes, it can be very serious and I've covered a lot of storms. But there's also that sort of relief that you're not talking about things that are depressing or sad. There's hard. I mean.

I look at Ainsley, I look at, you know, how, and they interview some very difficult people that are going through some very difficult things. I wouldn't say difficult people. I'm saying people who find themselves a lot of times, no fault of their own.

having dealt with life's tragedies and in a very emotional moment. And I don't know how they keep their composure. I mean, I was talking recently with Harris Faulkner. She's one of the best at this. She's like, how do you keep your composure when you're interviewing somebody who's just, their family was just murdered? I mean, how do you not get tears in your eyes? It's just amazing. So

There's a huge talent to that. And you've got that. But your book is called I Am the Storm because, you know, everything isn't just, oh, the weather's nice. And look at these cumulus clouds like right. You've gone through some tragedy and you've gone through some hard things yourself, but you haven't just sat back and took it either. Well, you know.

I think we've all been through storms. I think that's true. I think everybody has their storms. Of course. And I think that those storms can destroy and really impact lives. It's what you do afterwards with that that can build kind of a bigger, stronger foundation.

And when I wrote I Am the Storm, it's based on the poem The Warrior Whispers to the Young – no, sorry –

starts off the fate whispers to the warrior, you cannot withstand this storm. And the warrior whispers back, I am the storm. And there's something to that. Like, you know, we're always told you can't do this. That's too hard. That challenge is too big. But if you have this fire inside of you that makes you want to do something for the betterment of others, that's

the positive outcome of a storm that you view that fuel that gets you to stand up and say, I want to make a difference. That's an important thing to have. And I think the last couple of years, that's where my storm comes from. Something really affected my family during the pandemic. My husband lost his parents. They were both in elder care facilities.

And we found out that our governor was putting 9000 covid positive patients into the nursing homes, the most were the most vulnerable resided. We didn't know a lot about the pandemic, but one thing we knew was that the elderly were the most susceptible. So.

I didn't want to be that person on television. I want to be the mostly sunny gal doing the weather. But it was really important because I had an opportunity and a platform to talk about what was going on here in New York and try to make a difference. Oh, you did. You were relentless. But it...

You know, I'm out in the inner mountain West and the people all across this country and you were exposing something and not just, Hey, by the way, this happened. I mean, you're like, you really went after it. And I think you really did make a major difference in it. I, but at the same time, it's just sad that you had to go through that. And your husband, I mean, to not be able to see the,

those parents as they're passing away. I mean, that's just cruel. Yeah. And at the time, you know, we were in lockdown and we were told we can't, couldn't see them. And so, yeah, that was very frustrating. And I think, you know, a lot of the stories in the book, I am the storm. I do talk about how,

how I wrote this book and why it was important for me to talk about it and use this as an opportunity to try to change something. But I met other people along the way. It's not just about my fight. It's about these other incredible people that, you know, despite the odds, they stand up and they try to do something to change things for themselves or others. And when I started writing that book, I was in a very...

I was a dark place of a lot of anger, right? And after I wrote it, just meeting all of these other people that did incredible things are still in the middle of their fight. I felt like, wow, you know, there are other people all over this world that are trying to make a difference, even if it's just a small, if a small way to do that. I think that's in part what makes our country so great. You know, what differentiates, I think I've traveled all over the world. I've gone to a lot of countries and I,

One of the things that makes the United States so different than everybody else is we are self-critical. Yeah. And that's kind of part of our DNA. But you do it in such a way that you can make life better. That's the idea. The reason, like I was involved in Congress, right, in the oversight committee. And I felt passionate about it because I thought, yeah, we are self-critical. And we do it in order to improve where we're supposed to go to next. That's how you...

And those fights are, they're difficult and they're, you know, mine weren't as personal because I'm, you know, but I could feel the individual going through their own personal tragedy and trauma and how it affected so many others. And you've been such a great voice for that. Oh, well, I appreciate that. And still fighting, you know, I,

I have to confess, I cornered Jason Chaffetz in the hallway at Fox because it's really important that they get themselves together in the House GOP. Because people like me need to have COVID hearings to find out why they put COVID positive. You know there is a reason why I left Congress. Right.

But I need people like you because I feel like you did it for the right reasons. You know, there are a lot of people I don't know that get into government or politics for the right reasons. And, you know, over this fight, I've been asked, like, hey, would you ever think about doing this someday? And I do think about it because I think the people that make the most impact are

in government are the ones that have gone through something personally that realize why we elect these people in the first place. And right now they're not getting anything done. And it's very, very frustrating. You know, this last election cycle, there was a you remind me of Tiffany Smiley.

Tiffany Smiley was running for the United States Senate from the state of Washington. So the odds of a Republican winning in Washington state, really difficult. But her story in fighting the military, her husband, you know, injured, first blind officer in fighting the bureaucracy. You know, she was a nurse by training, but she grew up on a farm. I mean, she just...

I just loved her attitude because she's just like you. She's perpetually happy and excited. And there's just good people like that. I think your story is inspirational. What's the difference between your book, which was a New York Times bestseller, Mostly Sunny, and I Am the Storm? Because one's sunny, one's a storm. I mean, mostly sunny. We don't get to the sunshine unless we have the storm, right? Right, yes.

I wrote Mostly Sunny back in 2019, and it was a memoir kind of of what we talked about at the very beginning, how I started, where I grew up, how I got to Fox and that trajectory. Because I think I am a mostly sunny person. I do see the world glass half full.

But when I went through this tragedy, it was a different side of me that deserved another chapter. And like I said, we all go through these really challenging moments and the storms eventually do calm down and the light comes out and the sunshine takes over. So I think it's important to embrace those storms in our life because those are the ones that fuel us to do better and become better people. Yeah, they give us...

Yeah, I think you're right. You said right at the beginning, and it's true, everybody has gone through something difficult. Yeah. A tragedy, an accident, a disease, alcoholism, you know, mental health issues. I mean, there are so many things, right? And certainly you have family members that are going through that. And I think sometimes we pass each other in the hall or in the car or at a grocery store and, wait, why did they look at me like that? And it's like,

99 out of 100 times has nothing to do with what's going on. But meeting the person like you that has a smile on their face and a little happy disposition, I think makes all the difference in the world to people. It really does. Well, I thank you for that. And the book is really about

optimism and hope and perseverance. You know, there are David and Goliath stories, you know, being the young boy with just a pouch full of stones up against a monster. And what I've learned about advocacy is it's not just a day or a week or a month. It's a lifetime, right?

Right. So, you know, it becomes part of your core. It is. It really is. And I think that part of me is stronger and in a way happier because you realize what is the most important things in this life. Right. It's sometimes the tragedies, the storms that we go through that really everything else falls away. The unimportant stuff and the core of what is truly great and important in our lives really change.

Well, the sunshine. Look, you're at the highest level of the most watched network there is. And there's a reason why you've done it for so long as your good, strong voice. But like you said, you have this happiness to you. You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back right after this. So I have some rapid questions. I don't know how many storms you go through your life. I got a couple of quick rapid questions. Just what was your high school mascot?

A cardinal. Well, okay. That makes sense. It is in Canada, right? Yeah. It was the Confederation Cardinals. What was your very first job? Oh, very first job. Oh, my gosh. Let me think. Not the job that, hey, your parents were. Oh, I was a salesperson at a clothing store called Dapper Dance. And I got that job when I think when I was like 14 or 15. I really wanted to work.

And I put on my resume, I'm not- Dapper Dan's. Dapper Dan's. And my dad made me this really great resume and I got the job, even though I don't think I was of age that I could work. I remember putting together my first resume. Right? It's important. It had to be a full page. I'm like, I don't know. I stuck some envelopes. I played soccer. Yeah, exactly. That's funny. That's funny. Pineapple and pizza, yes or no? Oh, yes. Oh, Candace. I'm from Canada. You're on a roll. Oh, I love it.

Wet fruit? Come on. No, it's delicious. Ham and pineapple on a pizza. I'm not ashamed to admit that. You don't call it back bacon? No, Canadian bacon, yes. Canadian bacon? Okay. I'm really sorry, but pineapple stays. All right. Well, there's one strike against you, but you got so many positives. I'm going to have to let that pass. Most important advice you ever got?

Be kind. Be kind to others. And I think that that's really important. It does come back to you. I think if you're a nice person and you are kind to everyone, that's going to benefit you more than anything else. Well, it's great advice. I mean, you know, sometimes it's the simplest things just in principle and practice and that you do it repetitively. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

Congratulations on two books. You got another book in here? No, I have a bunch of books. Oh, well, there's only two mentioned on the... How many other books do you have? The Freddy the Frogcaster series. Oh, okay. I did forget about this. That's okay. I heard you talk about this. Yes. So five books about weather. Freddy is a frogcaster and he's a TV frogcaster.

So those are important. Those are the kids' books. And then I did Mostly Sunny, which is the memoir. And two years ago, I wrote Make Your Own Sunshine, which are stories of people being kind to others. And then this one, I Am the Storm. It's like a weather theme. I kind of gathered that. I don't know if I can do another one. Yeah.

I don't know. So I just finished my fourth book. Yes. And it's about Congress. And we were talking, I was like, I'd like to do another one. I really do enjoy it. And I was telling the publisher, I'm

But I don't know if I have another congressional story in me. If it didn't make the first four books, it probably isn't a good personal story for it. But it's amazing how many stories I actually keep remembering. Yeah, absolutely. So there are some out there. So keep writing. I mean, we love to read here. Well, the weather will keep coming. I can tell you that. That's true. Janice Dean, thanks so much for joining us. All right. Thank you so much. I hope everybody can rate the podcast. Hope you can subscribe to the podcast.

I want to remind everybody that you can listen to ad free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon Music app. You can find more at foxnewspodcast.com. There's some good stuff, good quality people out there. But again, make sure you rate this one. We really appreciate it. And we'll be back next week with a very invigorating conversation. Come back and join us again next week.

I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.