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00:00:01
S3 Ep2: Publishing in the Trump Era
31 Plays3 months ago
Heather and Veronica welcome special guest Chasing Oz (who also has written romance novels as Dawn Robertson) to discuss the first week of the Trump Administration, the link between the romance book industry and Elon Musk, censorship in the media and social media apps and more. Enjoy an unhinged and unfiltered look into current events as well as the next four years and how it can affect you as a lover of books and free speech. And Heather explains why she's a Spencer Pratt stan.
A podcast from 1852 Media.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Heather Roberts
Hello, hello and welcome to For Book's Sake. I am Heather Roberts.
00:00:04
Veronica Adams
I am Veronica Adams and we are 1852 Media.
00:00:17
Heather Roberts
All right, and welcome back. This is our second episode of 2025. And we are so excited to be here today with Dawn Robertson, also known as Chasing Oz or Danielle on TikTok and other social media platforms.
00:00:35
Heather Roberts
But she got her start writing romance novels.
Social Media and Politics Discussion
00:00:38
Heather Roberts
And so we are so excited to have her with us.
00:00:38
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:00:42
Heather Roberts
Welcome. do what how
00:00:43
Veronica Adams
Yes, welcome.
00:00:44
Chasing Oz
think you can call me Danielle that works just because that's my actual name behind all of the other names it's so funny because people are like I don't know what to call you and I'm like i I respond to literally anything like people yell at me in airports and I'm like hey
00:00:45
Heather Roberts
Would you like us to call you Danielle, Chasing Oz, Dawn? What do you want?
00:00:51
Heather Roberts
eric
00:01:07
Heather Roberts
not Well, yeah, Dania, I mean, you've created an amazing following on social media, talking about politics and ah ah current events really in Florida, specifically where you're at, trying to make sure that everybody knows what's going on and sharing the truth in your own way and with your laugh.
00:01:09
Veronica Adams
Nice.
00:01:29
Chasing Oz
Everything is on fire.
00:01:31
Heather Roberts
Yes. everything Yeah.
00:01:31
Chasing Oz
Everything's on fire.
00:01:32
Veronica Adams
but Quite a circus you have down there to be discussing.
00:01:33
Chasing Oz
It's all on fire.
00:01:36
Veronica Adams
Plenty of content.
00:01:36
Chasing Oz
I hate it here.
00:01:38
Heather Roberts
Yeah, it's valid.
00:01:39
Veronica Adams
that That's why I left.
00:01:41
Heather Roberts
It's valid.
00:01:41
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:01:43
Heather Roberts
But yeah, so we thought it'd be fun to have Danielle on to talk about, you know, publishing in the Trump era, and what's going on. And wouldn't you know it, but we had we had booked Danielle what back in December, something a minute but
00:01:57
Chasing Oz
who Yeah, a while back.
00:02:00
Heather Roberts
perfectly timed. We've had quite an intersection of politics and um publishing industry just this week.
00:02:10
Chasing Oz
This is the week.
00:02:10
Heather Roberts
So this is the week. So as many of you know, and if you haven't, I think you've been living under a rock, but this guy named Elon Musk, who perhaps you've heard of, he was at the inauguration and in front of the presidential seal,
00:02:29
Heather Roberts
made a gesture that, frankly, let's be honest, can only be interpreted as a Nazi salute. I mean, 100% it was a Nazi salute. All of these people trying to defend him, it's just it's wild.
00:02:41
Chasing Oz
the that The defenses have been insane to watch. Like, a touch of the tism?
00:02:45
Heather Roberts
Truly insane to watch.
00:02:48
Chasing Oz
No, no, no, no that no. No, no, we're not gonna go there.
00:02:51
Heather Roberts
No.
00:02:53
Veronica Adams
No.
00:02:53
Chasing Oz
He was throwing his heart. What?
00:02:55
Heather Roberts
No.
00:02:56
Chasing Oz
Excuse me?
00:02:57
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:02:58
Chasing Oz
Do what now? I've never heard of that before in my life.
00:03:01
Veronica Adams
There are clips of him out there doing that in a completely different fashion anyway.
00:03:01
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:03:04
Veronica Adams
So next excuse, please.
00:03:05
Chasing Oz
Exactly, like, mmm.
00:03:05
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. Try again.
Tosca Musk and Passionflix Controversy
00:03:08
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:03:09
Heather Roberts
but Well, one of the people defending him on Twitter or whatever the fuck you want to call it today is his sister.
00:03:13
Veronica Adams
X.
00:03:18
Heather Roberts
His sister is Tosca Musk. And how does that relate to the romance industry? Well, she owns a company called Passionflix. And Passionflix creates movies sort of in a, it's an independent movie production company.
00:03:36
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:03:36
Heather Roberts
So they take books, they buy the licensing rights for film, and they create these movies, these romance novels into movies. There's a subscription service, a lot like Netflix, where people can subscribe and watch these new movies.
00:03:52
Heather Roberts
Authors have over the years been clamoring, many of them, to try to get their books picked up by Passionflix because it's more likely that you would get a deal with Passionflix than you would with any sort of you know legacy media ah film deal or anything like that.
00:04:09
Veronica Adams
All right.
00:04:09
Heather Roberts
So, you know, she came onto to Twitter, I refuse to call it X, okay? She came onto Twitter and defended her brother, good old Elon, and put up a meme that is going around of other politicians who happen to be Democrats waving with their hands in the air, basically saying, you didn't yell when they did this.
00:04:30
Chasing Oz
waving.
00:04:35
Chasing Oz
It's a different context.
00:04:36
Heather Roberts
Well, no, we didn't because they weren't doing it. So it is, yeah.
00:04:42
Veronica Adams
Show me the videos of each of those photo stills, please. Show me the full video so that we can see in context how the body was moving.
00:04:46
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:04:46
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:04:51
Chasing Oz
But that's how propaganda works, is they tell you first not to believe what you're seeing with your own fucking two eyes.
00:04:53
Veronica Adams
Right?
00:04:58
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:05:01
Heather Roberts
Like, we all saw that. but And the biggest thing is not only do I know what it means, but the people who support that type of belief system also took that as a sign.
00:05:13
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:05:14
Heather Roberts
I mean, they are, they have put out, you know, different things saying like, you know, yes, like that was thank you, you know, that was for
00:05:14
Chasing Oz
Mhm.
00:05:16
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:05:22
Chasing Oz
Nick Fuentes in his his commentary, his explanation online that there's no other thing it could be.
00:05:23
Veronica Adams
Oh, God.
00:05:31
Veronica Adams
He was giddy about it. I mean, you
Liberal Leanings in Romance Industry
00:05:33
Heather Roberts
hi Right.
00:05:33
Veronica Adams
know, the dogs, the dogs heard the whistle loud and clear.
00:05:33
Chasing Oz
Did it twice! Oh, yeah. And then Donald Trump decided to release the most violent of criminals You know, I mean, today, today he pardoned that lady.
00:05:44
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:05:46
Chasing Oz
You remember that lady a a couple of years ago that got caught, the anti-abortion lady that had all the fetuses in her basement?
00:05:49
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:05:52
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:05:53
Chasing Oz
He pardoned that bitch today.
00:05:56
Veronica Adams
ye
00:05:56
Chasing Oz
What?
00:05:57
Heather Roberts
It's just completely wild. Yeah. So I mean, Tosca, I don't care. I get he's your brother. Like I get it, right? But at the same time, no, no.
00:06:09
Heather Roberts
If my brother did that, I'd be distancing myself so far from that. um um You wouldn't even be able to see like, who? Elon who? I don't know him.
00:06:19
Heather Roberts
What are you talking about?
00:06:20
Chasing Oz
like his did.
00:06:20
Heather Roberts
You know what I ah Right, exactly. So now authors are starting to drop passion flicks and there's a lot of those subscribers on you know the book of faces who are saying that they're they've dropped their subscription. Tara Civic just came out and said that she sent an email breaking their contract and saying that she no longer, she can't, you know her Her values do not align with passion flicks.
00:06:49
Heather Roberts
I have a feeling a lot more authors are going to follow. So that is going to be very interesting to watch.
00:06:52
Chasing Oz
I hope so.
00:06:55
Chasing Oz
I love Tara. She's the best.
00:06:57
Heather Roberts
Yeah, yeah, she's great.
00:06:58
Chasing Oz
It all brings me back to Wicked Book Weekend and her dildo races. Those are the best women.
00:07:06
Heather Roberts
I just don't know how you can be in an industry of of the romance industry of women and know that most women in this industry are liberal leaning at the very least.
00:07:12
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:07:20
Chasing Oz
except for Except for that cunt, what's that, Jamie McGuire.
00:07:24
Heather Roberts
cho Yeah, yeah, except for her.
00:07:24
Veronica Adams
Oh.
00:07:26
Chasing Oz
She blocked me on every social media platform.
00:07:29
Veronica Adams
You must be doing something right.
00:07:29
Heather Roberts
but You're blessed. Yeah, you're blessed.
00:07:33
Chasing Oz
Winning.
00:07:34
Heather Roberts
Oh my God.
00:07:34
Chasing Oz
Maybe she can go hawk some more lip synths.
00:07:37
Heather Roberts
ah ah She could.
00:07:40
Chasing Oz
My bad, sorry.
00:07:41
Heather Roberts
No, you're fine. Say what you want. I, you know, I will never forget being in a signing.
00:07:45
Chasing Oz
When have I never?
00:07:46
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:07:46
Heather Roberts
Yeah. I was at a signing and she was there and she packed up like halfway through the signing and her kids were literally screaming the entire signing, running around, being disruptive.
00:07:59
Heather Roberts
And then she packed up and left halfway through the signing.
00:08:02
Veronica Adams
Disrespectful.
00:08:02
Chasing Oz
So I signed with her twice, right? So I signed at Book Bash Orlando. And the first year I signed there, she was was actually nice.
00:08:13
Chasing Oz
And then the second year that I signed was the year that she got skinny. And she was a rude cunt to everybody.
00:08:17
Heather Roberts
that
00:08:20
Chasing Oz
I literally walked her by her table at one point, and and I was like, can somebody get this bitch a steak or something? Like, and can somebody improve the mood because she's just fucking insufferable?
00:08:35
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. Well, then her posts on social media have backed up that.
00:08:41
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:08:41
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:08:42
Veronica Adams
It's nothing but hate.
00:08:42
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:08:43
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:08:43
Heather Roberts
Nothing but hate all the time.
00:08:44
Chasing Oz
She took off her she took off her clan hood.
00:08:47
Heather Roberts
all the all the hate, all the time, huge magma supporter. So I imagine if Tosca would like, but she could probably be able to get a fabulous opening.
00:08:55
Chasing Oz
She might be able to get some of Jamie's z-list of books nobody ever bought. After a beautiful disaster, that was it.
00:09:04
Heather Roberts
That was it.
00:09:05
Veronica Adams
Pretty much.
00:09:05
Chasing Oz
Would you rewrote the same book six times? with the How many copies do you need of it?
00:09:09
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:09:11
Chasing Oz
We don't need any more perspectives.
00:09:17
Heather Roberts
You're not wrong, but yeah.
Social Media's Influence on Politics
00:09:19
Heather Roberts
So that's the big drama this week with passion flicks and the whole Elon connection with Tosca and all of that.
00:09:28
Heather Roberts
But people have started talking about them specifically and about their family and, you know, their South African where they got their money and at a part time.
00:09:37
Chasing Oz
Apartheid.
00:09:37
Veronica Adams
Yeah, we i'll saw him in our house apartheid Clyde.
00:09:41
Chasing Oz
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:42
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:09:42
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:09:43
Chasing Oz
I've been calling them Adolf Titler.
00:09:43
Heather Roberts
but
00:09:45
Veronica Adams
Ooh, I like that too. That's good.
00:09:48
Heather Roberts
I saw a picture of him that would support that.
00:09:52
Chasing Oz
Yeah, you probably thought from me.
00:09:55
Heather Roberts
Probably, probably.
00:09:56
Chasing Oz
been heavy on that this week. I also shared the picture of Mark Zuckerberg and Joe Rogan together when they recorded the podcast.
00:09:58
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:10:03
Heather Roberts
I don't know if I saw that one.
00:10:05
Chasing Oz
Oh, yeah, no, it's good. And it it's it's everywhere. But it went viral on threads because I shared the picture.
00:10:11
Heather Roberts
okay
00:10:13
Chasing Oz
And I was like, this picture is if vaginal dryness was a photograph.
00:10:23
Veronica Adams
I love it.
00:10:23
Heather Roberts
Oh my God, Danielle.
00:10:24
Chasing Oz
I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress.
00:10:26
Heather Roberts
I know.
00:10:26
Veronica Adams
oh Extra hilarious because of how true it is. i mean
00:10:31
Chasing Oz
It is, absolutely.
00:10:31
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:10:32
Chasing Oz
I don't know who looks at the two of them and thinks masculine. Who looks at Mark Zuckerberg looks like a team new version of Justin Timberlake from 2000.
00:10:44
Heather Roberts
really does.
00:10:45
Chasing Oz
Minus the frosted tips, that's all.
00:10:47
Veronica Adams
Can we get him in a harness and do a comparison?
00:10:49
Heather Roberts
Yeah, right.
00:10:50
Chasing Oz
I mean, I don't think it would be hard.
00:10:51
Veronica Adams
Like, right?
00:10:51
Heather Roberts
but the
00:10:54
Heather Roberts
He probably has a harness, let's be honest.
00:10:56
Veronica Adams
Oh, maybe. Oh, yeah.
00:10:58
Heather Roberts
I went there.
00:10:59
Veronica Adams
Okay.
00:10:59
Chasing Oz
Gross.
00:11:00
Heather Roberts
I went there.
00:11:00
Veronica Adams
We listen and we don't judge.
00:11:02
Heather Roberts
I'll be judged. I'll be judged.
00:11:04
Veronica Adams
Oh, okay.
00:11:05
Chasing Oz
I judge.
00:11:07
Veronica Adams
Fair enough.
00:11:07
Chasing Oz
I am not one of those tolerant liberals.
00:11:08
Heather Roberts
i mean
00:11:09
Chasing Oz
I love telling people that too. They're like, you know, fuck you and snowflake. I'm like, you're the one that's losing your shit, bro.
00:11:17
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Listen, I am tolerant of everything except for intolerance. So when you open yourself up to the, when you say things that are just completely out of pocket, I don't care anymore.
00:11:22
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:11:23
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:11:31
Chasing Oz
Mm hmm.
00:11:32
Heather Roberts
I do not care anymore.
00:11:34
Chasing Oz
When I used to go to signings back in the day, I had a T shirt that I and I still wear it all the time.
00:11:34
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:11:40
Chasing Oz
It's like the Coca Cola lettering, but it says cunt on it.
00:11:44
Chasing Oz
And like I always used to just wear it as like a warning like this is what you're going to get.
00:11:47
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:11:48
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Right. I mean, just, yeah, put it up front.
00:11:54
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:11:55
Heather Roberts
There's nothing wrong with that.
00:11:56
Chasing Oz
You know what you get with me.
00:11:58
Heather Roberts
But I've been saying, I mean, these, these next four years, the time for being nice is over. Like we've tried that.
00:12:03
Chasing Oz
Oh, yeah.
00:12:04
Heather Roberts
We have tried to be nice.
00:12:05
Chasing Oz
I'm ready to light shit on fire.
00:12:05
Heather Roberts
yeah Yeah, we have tried to explain. We have tried to be kind. We you know we we tried to pull you in, tried to come to your level.
00:12:17
Heather Roberts
tried to All of these things.
00:12:19
Veronica Adams
meet you where you're at.
00:12:19
Heather Roberts
Dental parenting has not worked, OK? You guys have been saying it for years, the other side. So guess what? We're just coming. We're meeting you where you are, right?
00:12:29
Chasing Oz
i I'm here with the fuck your feelings energy.
00:12:32
Heather Roberts
100%.
00:12:33
Veronica Adams
Facts don't care about them, right? Isn't that like their thing?
00:12:36
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:12:36
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:12:37
Heather Roberts
Yeah, facts don't care about feelings, so neither do I.
00:12:40
Chasing Oz
I literally am like channeling my inner French Revolution at this point. I'm two steps away from starting to build a guillotine in my backyard.
00:12:48
Heather Roberts
oh
00:12:54
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:12:55
Chasing Oz
If I had carpentry skills, that shit would have been done already.
00:12:58
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:13:00
Heather Roberts
I've been watching The Hunger Games next up where we're watching Handmaid's Tale again for Lovely brief breath.
00:13:06
Chasing Oz
I don't know if I can do that one right now.
00:13:08
Veronica Adams
yeah.
00:13:08
Chasing Oz
It's a little too.
00:13:09
Heather Roberts
I know, Yeah.
00:13:10
Veronica Adams
It was a little too close to real life for me.
00:13:11
Chasing Oz
Knowing that I have my tubes tied and then I'll be stuck cooking. I don't have cooking skills. I can't cut it as a Martha. Where are they going to send me?
00:13:18
Veronica Adams
This? This sends you to the wastelands.
00:13:21
Chasing Oz
I know I'm going to be.
00:13:21
Veronica Adams
You go shovel nuclear waste until you fall over dead because your limbs are falling off.
00:13:24
Chasing Oz
Exactly. Like what the fuck?
Food Quality and TikTok's Impact
00:13:26
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm.
00:13:27
Heather Roberts
I would never make it as a Martha, honestly, unless they, it has make for me unless meals are a thing in this particular hand-paste tale.
00:13:28
Chasing Oz
My future is not right.
00:13:33
Chasing Oz
Right?
00:13:36
Chasing Oz
I mean, ah ah not for nothing, but by then we'll probably only have like rice and like whatever we can grow in our backyard.
00:13:42
Veronica Adams
True.
00:13:44
Heather Roberts
Potatoes, potatoes, corn.
00:13:47
Chasing Oz
Oh my god.
00:13:47
Heather Roberts
There will be corn because you know everything is runs on corn in America.
00:13:48
Veronica Adams
Pretty much.
00:13:52
Chasing Oz
Oh my god.
00:13:52
Heather Roberts
So there will be corn.
00:13:54
Chasing Oz
I love leaving this country once a month so that like I don't have to taste the nasty ass food here. like Everywhere you go outside of this country, you can taste how good the food is compared to the shit that they tell us is supposed to be good.
00:14:06
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:14:11
Heather Roberts
I started making our own bread, not because I'm like a crazy homesteader or anything, but because it tastes better.
00:14:17
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:14:18
Heather Roberts
And like, it's not super hard. Like you just need to have a little patience, but it's, it's wild.
00:14:22
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:14:25
Heather Roberts
The taste difference, like wild.
00:14:26
Chasing Oz
Oh yeah.
00:14:29
Heather Roberts
And it's just so much better for you.
00:14:31
Chasing Oz
Mm-hmm.
00:14:32
Heather Roberts
I totally understand what you're saying.
00:14:34
Chasing Oz
Oh yeah.
00:14:34
Heather Roberts
It's crazy.
00:14:34
Chasing Oz
Everywhere I go, like, I just eat. Like, eat. I'm a small person. I can put down some food.
00:14:43
Heather Roberts
Where are you going next? You've been already places to share.
00:14:47
Chasing Oz
Yeah, I just got back from Iceland last week. That was my first hosted trip of the
00:14:49
Veronica Adams
Nice.
00:14:50
Chasing Oz
um I have a cruise in February on Virgin Voyages, so it's a kid-free ship. Very excited about that.
00:14:59
Heather Roberts
done love Oh, cool.
00:15:00
Chasing Oz
And then my next hosted trip will be in March back to Iceland.
00:15:06
Heather Roberts
Very cool.
00:15:06
Veronica Adams
That's
00:15:06
Chasing Oz
Yeah, I'm super stoked. I love Iceland. It's one of my favorite places to go.
00:15:10
Heather Roberts
Is it like the same trip that you went on before are you go into different places?
00:15:14
Chasing Oz
Oh, no, it's the same same itinerary.
00:15:15
Heather Roberts
Same thing.
00:15:16
Chasing Oz
Yep, different people wanted to go. I put up the one for March last year and it sold out.
00:15:18
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:15:23
Chasing Oz
So I added the January trip I just completed.
00:15:26
Veronica Adams
Nice.
00:15:26
Chasing Oz
And yeah, that one was I think we were rolling down two people.
00:15:28
Heather Roberts
That's not bad at all.
00:15:32
Chasing Oz
So yeah, no, it was great. It was a great group. We had a great time. We saw the Northern Lights again. Yeah, it was it was killer. I can't wait to go back. It's always cool going there.
00:15:43
Chasing Oz
And the people are it's just a magical place. Like it's one of those countries where you can like feel the folklore and shit like it's cool.
00:15:47
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:15:56
Veronica Adams
Love that.
00:15:57
Heather Roberts
I love that, like, this has become part of your job now.
00:16:01
Chasing Oz
Yeah. i I did not anticipate this being like a thing.
00:16:03
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:16:05
Chasing Oz
like This is why I left my day job last year, late last year.
00:16:10
Heather Roberts
And you get to travel to all of these places that it's like you're working. It's amazing.
00:16:14
Chasing Oz
Yep, it's my job to to go and host these trips a week a month.
00:16:15
Veronica Adams
Tough life.
00:16:18
Chasing Oz
And everybody's like, you go on vacation again? I'm like, yeah, it's my job.
00:16:23
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:16:24
Chasing Oz
I mean, I have to like do shit when I'm there.
00:16:24
Veronica Adams
toughly
00:16:26
Chasing Oz
like I'm wrangling humans and making sure nobody dies.
00:16:26
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:16:30
Chasing Oz
And if somebody gets hurt, I have to write a report. It's like like work, but you know we try to make sure nobody gets injured.
00:16:38
Heather Roberts
Right. that's That's always a good goal.
00:16:40
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:16:41
Heather Roberts
Good goal.
00:16:42
Veronica Adams
Plus you get to leave the U.S.
00:16:42
Chasing Oz
you Yeah, and it's awesome.
00:16:43
Veronica Adams
frequently.
00:16:45
Chasing Oz
But now I'm finding that like when I get places, they're really looking at my passport. like what What are you doing, bitch? What is this?
00:16:54
Heather Roberts
Well, because you're all over the place now.
00:16:56
Chasing Oz
Everywhere, yeah. One one one a month.
00:16:57
Heather Roberts
Yeah. That's crazy. How are you handling the whole TikTok debacle?
00:17:06
Chasing Oz
What a fucking shit show. Okay, so let's talk about this because everybody's like, oh, I won't get back on TikTok now.
00:17:08
Heather Roberts
wild Yeah.
00:17:12
Chasing Oz
It's all Trump. No, it's not.
00:17:14
Heather Roberts
No, it's not.
00:17:15
Chasing Oz
Your algorithm is exactly whatever you made of it.
00:17:17
Veronica Adams
Now, my FYP is still very much a bubble.
00:17:18
Chasing Oz
What? Exactly. My FYP is fucking Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift.
00:17:25
Heather Roberts
Mine has Spencer Pratt and Taylor Swift.
00:17:25
Veronica Adams
What more could you want?
00:17:27
Chasing Oz
yeah i Yeah, I've been seeing him pop up in like the Taylor Swift stuff lately.
00:17:30
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:17:31
Chasing Oz
And I'm like, oh, i don't i don't i don't I remember you, but I didn't like you back then.
00:17:31
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:17:34
Chasing Oz
So I'm just going to swipe.
00:17:36
Heather Roberts
Honestly, no, listen here. like i'm sorry he's Yeah, he's been a Swifty, but I'm going to be ah a Spencer Pratt stand here for a moment, okay?
00:17:37
Chasing Oz
Was he a Swifty
00:17:44
Heather Roberts
That man, one, he orchestrated the whole villain persona, right? Like that was an act like 100%.
00:17:49
Chasing Oz
Oh, yeah. That was his thing.
00:17:51
Heather Roberts
That was his thing.
00:17:51
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:17:53
Heather Roberts
That man rides for his wife and his family in a way that I think every every man can do.
00:18:00
Chasing Oz
man should do. Is he is he a Doug Amhoff?
00:18:03
Heather Roberts
Yeah, like he literally.
00:18:04
Veronica Adams
Oh, God, they're going to be making some of him grocery shopping soon.
00:18:08
Heather Roberts
Yeah, mean he is on this app.
00:18:08
Chasing Oz
Oh my god.
00:18:12
Heather Roberts
for the sole purpose of you know getting money for his family, supporting his wife, even before, so their house burned down in the in the fires, in the Palisades fires.
00:18:23
Heather Roberts
Also, his father, his parents' house, I think it's his parents' house, also burned down the fires. They did not have, so they put all of their money into the house, and they also put their money into Heidi's album that she released 15 years ago, superficial.
00:18:41
Veronica Adams
I mean, real estate's pretty outrageous in California.
00:18:43
Veronica Adams
That seems like it it tracks, right?
00:18:43
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:18:43
Heather Roberts
Yeah, it tracks.
00:18:45
Veronica Adams
Like.
00:18:45
Heather Roberts
I mean, even if I don't know how much their house was worth in California, but let's be honest, like, even let's say it's a $2 million dollars house, a $2 million dollars house in California is like a $400,000 house like in, you know, anywhere else.
00:18:49
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:18:57
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:18:58
Veronica Adams
Fly over country. Yeah.
00:19:00
Heather Roberts
Right. So we're not talking whatever, but so, you know, they put all their money in that I don't, they did not have fire insurance because they got dropped from their insurer because and yeah, a lot of people did.
00:19:01
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:19:10
Chasing Oz
A lot of people did.
00:19:13
Heather Roberts
So like they're, you know,
00:19:13
Chasing Oz
Very Florida hurricane-esque.
00:19:16
Heather Roberts
Yes. So they're trying to rebuild. They don't have anything, right? And this man is off his app hustling like I have never seen anybody before. He got his wife's album to number one on iTunes, his 15 year old fucking album.
00:19:32
Heather Roberts
it She just hit the billboard charts and the top 200.
00:19:35
Chasing Oz
That's funny.
00:19:36
Heather Roberts
He's, I mean, so I'm i'm a Spencer Pratt Stan for how he treats his wife and
00:19:41
Chasing Oz
that's i mean That's a plus. It's always nice to see yeah to see that to see men men doing good. For TikTok, the fact that the app went down Saturday night and then was back up Sunday afternoon was nothing more than a ploy.
Moderation and Censorship on Social Media
00:19:59
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:19:59
Chasing Oz
so What TikTok did was they turned off the US servers so nobody within the US could to access it. A lot of people deleted the app. You can't get it back because the app stores won't put it up right now. They're worried about fines.
00:20:15
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:20:16
Chasing Oz
So they're they're not, because they haven't got a written assurance that they won't be fined.
00:20:19
Heather Roberts
All right.
00:20:19
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Right.
00:20:21
Chasing Oz
So that's why they haven't put it back in the app stores. But took the app down, and we all saw the evolution of the messages as it went down, and then it was you know coming back.
00:20:31
Heather Roberts
Thank you, Charles.
00:20:32
Chasing Oz
in thank you it Basically, they took the app down, they kissed his ass for a couple hours, and then they turned the app back on. That's all.
00:20:43
Chasing Oz
That's all that happened. Your FYP is the same. Your comment section is the same. The moderation might be a little wonky right now. Like I had audio of a video taken down yesterday and I appealed it and I won, but it never put the audio back up.
00:20:58
Chasing Oz
Like it was like glitching out. So I think that it's just like... fucking tech glitches that are happening.
00:21:03
Heather Roberts
glitch Yeah.
00:21:05
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:21:06
Chasing Oz
Because even in the past like six months, the moderation on comments and stuff has been more. But now we also know that that platforms like meta platforms during the election were stifling left leaning content creators.
00:21:23
Chasing Oz
And we there's actual like proof in the pudding. There was also a letter from a Twitter employee that went to, I don't know who they submitted it to, but it's making its rounds on the internet about how they artificially adjusted the algorithm on Twitter during the election and used fake accounts that were create AI created accounts.
00:21:41
Heather Roberts
Hmm.
00:21:48
Chasing Oz
so Whistleblower within Twitter, person didn't want their their identity out there because they're here on one of the HB1 visas.
00:21:56
Heather Roberts
oh Oh, it's funny.
00:22:00
Chasing Oz
so you know While they're all railing against immigrants, their businesses are being run by immigrants.
00:22:00
Heather Roberts
Sorry.
00:22:03
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:22:07
Heather Roberts
Yeah, sort of like how America is being run by friends.
00:22:07
Veronica Adams
I
00:22:10
Chasing Oz
yeah but Yeah, so TikTok hasn't changed.
00:22:11
Veronica Adams
hope.
00:22:13
Chasing Oz
The FYPs are still the
00:22:13
Heather Roberts
Yeah,
00:22:14
Chasing Oz
um you know The traffic is very similar.
00:22:16
Heather Roberts
page yeah
00:22:18
Chasing Oz
I haven't noticed any difference, not for me you know as a creator. Oh, yeah, 100%.
00:22:24
Heather Roberts
the whole thing was performative. It was Literally no reason for it to go down there. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever other than to try to kiss Trump's ass.
00:22:30
Chasing Oz
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:22:35
Chasing Oz
That's 100% what it was. It was stroking his ego because he's a fucking toddler and they want to stay on his good side.
00:22:42
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:22:44
Chasing Oz
In the meantime, this motherfucker is on his Truth Social website talking about how he wants the US to own, like the government to own a half of TikTok.
00:22:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:22:57
Chasing Oz
No, sir.
00:22:58
Heather Roberts
No, no.
00:22:59
Chasing Oz
Do you know what that's called? That's called socialism.
00:23:02
Heather Roberts
Yeah, state sponsor.
00:23:03
Chasing Oz
you know Do you know that you know what that word means?
00:23:03
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:23:05
Chasing Oz
Because y'all motherfuckers use it an awful lot but can't identify it in action.
00:23:10
Veronica Adams
They keep using that word.
00:23:13
Heather Roberts
yeah I mean, socialism and communism is the interchangeable to them, even though they are very different things.
00:23:20
Veronica Adams
Mark says, yep, that's right.
00:23:21
Chasing Oz
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
00:23:25
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:23:26
Chasing Oz
Stop it.
00:23:27
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:23:27
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:23:27
Chasing Oz
Just like yesterday, I was in the fucking, the gas station before I went to get my tattoo, I went and grabbed a bottle of water.
00:23:33
Chasing Oz
This guy behind me, he's looking at me, he's trying to read my earrings. Then he's trying to talk to me, right? He's like, oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to see what your earrings said. You know, trying to hit on me a little bit subtly in his head to toe camo in Florida.
00:23:49
Chasing Oz
I turned around and I was like, oh, they say, fuck the patriarchy.
00:23:55
Chasing Oz
And I'm 100% sure it went over his head because he was like, oh, that that's great. The guy behind him was hysterically laughing. I don't think he knew what patriarchy meant.
00:24:06
Chasing Oz
So I think he went home and Googled that later on in the evening and was like that redheaded cunt.
00:24:10
Heather Roberts
yeah Yeah. Not what, not what I thought it meant. That's hilarious.
00:24:15
Chasing Oz
Yeah, it was awesome. That's why I don't go out in public often because of that.
00:24:19
Heather Roberts
I mean, yeah, I try not to leave my house.
00:24:21
Veronica Adams
out here doing the Lord's work.
00:24:23
Heather Roberts
Well, speaking of censorship though, I mean, it might not be happening on TikTok right now, but there is a concern of, you know, this administration censoring a lot of things, but specifically also romance always being one of them.
00:24:38
Veronica Adams
Well, they're coming for our books.
00:24:39
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:24:39
Veronica Adams
They're coming.
00:24:39
Chasing Oz
Oh yeah, they've been coming for books.
00:24:40
Veronica Adams
They're coming for it's in product 2025.
00:24:43
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:24:43
Chasing Oz
They've been coming for books.
00:24:44
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:24:45
Heather Roberts
And so like the way that this could look, right like because we keep saying, like oh, they're coming for our books. How could it look? right So like what people will know to look out for, where you know Amazon, the retailers, right specifically Amazon, because it's Amazon, they're going to start either shadow banning, right throwing you into the ah ah dungeon, as we like to call it, the erotica dungeon, for books that are not erotica.
00:25:11
Heather Roberts
right They're going to potentially even limit what you're allowed to publish on their platform. If it has any type of open door sexual nature at all, that could possibly be happening.
00:25:24
Heather Roberts
them and other retailers. So, I mean, these are ah a lot of different, I mean, there could be criminal actions coming again. We don't know. We don't know how far this is going to go.
00:25:32
Veronica Adams
Like just
00:25:33
Chasing Oz
I mean, just look at what they're doing in in bread states like Florida, like with these identification laws, like things like Pornhub are
00:25:41
Veronica Adams
Yes. Right.
00:25:43
Chasing Oz
ah ah completely shutting down operations for the state or any access because of the the privacy violations.
00:25:54
Chasing Oz
It's only going to get worse. i mean Yesterday in Mississippi, there was a new piece of legislation passed. ah ah Conception begins at erection. I'm sure that's going to go over awesomely.
00:26:04
Veronica Adams
no No masturbatory emissions, only
00:26:07
Heather Roberts
Wait, was that real? I thought that that was satire.
00:26:09
Chasing Oz
No, it's real.
00:26:09
Veronica Adams
No, it's legit Heather.
00:26:12
Chasing Oz
It's real.
00:26:12
Heather Roberts
No, but I.
00:26:12
Veronica Adams
No, no masturbatory emissions. It is literally like the scene from L from Legally Blonde where L is in class arguing.
00:26:18
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:26:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:26:19
Chasing Oz
Reckless. Reckless.
00:26:21
Veronica Adams
Yeah, reckless endangerment of the sperm of the child that could have been conceived from the sperm.
00:26:21
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:26:23
Chasing Oz
Mm-hmm.
00:26:25
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:26:26
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:26:27
Chasing Oz
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Because 100% of unwanted pregnancies come from unwanted sperm.
00:26:34
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:26:34
Heather Roberts
Yes. Well, I did.
00:26:35
Chasing Oz
We can ask for it. We don't want it.
00:26:37
Heather Roberts
I did see that the executive order said when they were talking about the whole gender thing, that, you know, it's it's based upon a conception.
00:26:43
Chasing Oz
Yeah. At conception.
00:26:47
Heather Roberts
So we're all women now.
Evangelical Nationalism and Political Influence
00:26:49
Chasing Oz
Yep.
00:26:49
Heather Roberts
All of us.
00:26:49
Chasing Oz
every but every Every man in America is a trans man.
00:26:50
Heather Roberts
Everyone.
00:26:53
Veronica Adams
trans.
00:26:54
Heather Roberts
As a trans man.
00:26:55
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:26:55
Veronica Adams
They are.
00:26:56
Chasing Oz
Because at conception, every last one of you motherfuckers are a bitch just like us.
00:26:58
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:27:04
Heather Roberts
Yep.
00:27:05
Chasing Oz
So no matter how much masculine energy or gender-affirming care you'd like to get you on with your hair plugs, it's not gonna help.
00:27:08
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:27:15
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:27:15
Chasing Oz
your your Your jaw hardening surgery you had, it it that's gender-affirming care.
00:27:22
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:27:23
Chasing Oz
Bye, say bye to that.
00:27:24
Heather Roberts
I know it is. Speaking of weird things from the inauguration. No. what Okay. Was the stylus of Ivanka Trump trolling her?
00:27:36
Chasing Oz
Probably, yes.
00:27:36
Heather Roberts
Did you see that?
00:27:37
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:27:37
Heather Roberts
You you saw that with the whole handmade sale reference?
00:27:40
Chasing Oz
She looks like she was one of the commander's wives and Melania looked like she was the hamburglar.
00:27:42
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:27:43
Heather Roberts
I mean, she was Marina Joy, 100%.
00:27:47
Chasing Oz
I don't know.
00:27:48
Heather Roberts
I thought she was Michael Jackson reincarnated, frankly.
00:27:51
Chasing Oz
Like, and then, and then this motherfucker didn't even put his hand on the Bible and behind him in the in the background, you can see Kamala Harris and she's like,
00:27:57
Heather Roberts
no Yeah, her face.
00:28:04
Chasing Oz
i I saved the video because it was just too good. it was it was just I need that in my soul.
00:28:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah. You just know her favorite swear word is running through her mind right then and there.
00:28:13
Chasing Oz
She was like, this dumb motherfucker did not put his hand on the Bible.
00:28:15
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:28:17
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:28:17
Chasing Oz
He probably didn't because if he did, he would have erupted into flames.
00:28:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:28:20
Heather Roberts
100%.
00:28:22
Heather Roberts
Yeah. hundred percent like yeah
00:28:24
Chasing Oz
like Or is he just that deep in the dementia dive that even after they told him to put his hand on the Bible, he didn't?
00:28:36
Veronica Adams
I think everything religious with them is pomp and circumstance. It's just to court the base and that and put on a good show for the people who vote for him.
00:28:38
Chasing Oz
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:28:43
Chasing Oz
That's all it is.
00:28:43
Heather Roberts
and then he And then he's mad what a bishop actually preaches to him about like what Jesus would do.
00:28:44
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:28:49
Chasing Oz
What Jesus actually taught.
00:28:51
Veronica Adams
Good old Christian values.
00:28:53
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:28:54
Chasing Oz
Fuckin' man, the Mike Johnson's all pissed off about it too, bro.
00:28:54
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:28:57
Chasing Oz
Like, you go to church, you should know better, my guy.
00:29:01
Heather Roberts
but I just don't understand. Like i i I was forced to go to church. ah a lot. i remember I was raised in a conservative evangelical Christian household. Okay. So I went to church on, I went to Sunday school.
00:29:12
Heather Roberts
I went to the that service in the afternoon. I went to church on Wednesday nights. We we went to church. Okay. I went to a Baptist school until third grade.
00:29:23
Heather Roberts
Like I, we were, yeah. So I just don't understand how this entire, I've been saying this for years, but like how the entire evangelical movement
00:29:32
Chasing Oz
It's nationalism.
00:29:35
Heather Roberts
Yeah, not at all.
00:29:35
Chasing Oz
it's not not It's not Christianity.
00:29:38
Veronica Adams
They're not Christian.
00:29:38
Chasing Oz
It's nationalism is what it is.
00:29:40
Veronica Adams
That's right. That's right.
00:29:41
Chasing Oz
And if you go back to, if you ever listened to Rachel Maddow's ultra podcast, I highly suggest that talks about the Nazi infiltration in America during World War II, like in leading up And there was this guy, Father Tom Conklin, and he had a radio show that he would preach.
00:30:05
Chasing Oz
And it it he was he was an intermediary for fucking Nazi propaganda. and he was here Because then then they had radio.
00:30:17
Chasing Oz
That's what you had.
00:30:17
Veronica Adams
Yeah, right.
00:30:18
Chasing Oz
Everybody listened to the radio shows.
00:30:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:30:21
Chasing Oz
And he was passing Nazi propaganda through religious fucking bullshit and and they got caught.
00:30:32
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:30:32
Chasing Oz
but the It's the same thing. And it started in the 2000s with the fucking country music after 9-11. Every fucking song was a macho.
00:30:43
Chasing Oz
Americana. I'm gonna kick your ass. Fucking red, white, and blue.
00:30:46
Veronica Adams
Toby keeps putting a boot in everybody's ass.
00:30:46
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:30:48
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:30:48
Veronica Adams
That's right. Yep. Yeah.
00:30:49
Chasing Oz
And it shifted. It shifted. That's when the conservative value shift started.
00:30:55
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:30:55
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:30:55
Chasing Oz
Because it turned from religious-based what country was, which was Willie Nelson fucking living in the Promised Land, singing about how immigrants make America fucking better and how this is a melting pot for the fucking world.
00:31:07
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:31:10
Chasing Oz
And then you have interviews with the highwaymen, Chris Christofferson and fucking Willie and Johnny Cash talking about millionaires and billionaires and, you know, taking care of each other.
00:31:14
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:31:22
Chasing Oz
Instead of the industrial like they're so far brainwashed by this idea that our foreign enemies have have seized on it because since
00:31:27
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:31:35
Chasing Oz
The 2016 election, it's been nothing but information warfare that's coming from foreign bad actors.
00:31:39
Heather Roberts
Oh, yeah.
00:31:43
Chasing Oz
And people get on the internet and and lap it up.
00:31:47
Veronica Adams
Mm hmm.
00:31:47
Chasing Oz
They love it because that's what the the America programmed them to do in the 20 years leading up to it.
00:31:55
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:31:56
Chasing Oz
It's been something that they've been at forever.
00:31:56
Heather Roberts
and
00:31:59
Heather Roberts
And the algorithms love it, too. And so that's what gets pushed out. I mean, i we were talking to a friend of ours last night. He has a huge TikTok following as well. And he was he's starting to make more political content, right? And so he just wanted to test like how the algorithm was going to to work.
00:32:19
Heather Roberts
So he went on Google, found like searched something, found a chart and just like didn't fact check it or anything. right And just threw it up there and just like made a ah ah really quick video about it.
00:32:31
Heather Roberts
Just wanted to see how people would react. like Would they fact check it or whatever? And he's like like, one person out of the bajillion comments was like, this isn't true.
00:32:43
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:32:43
Heather Roberts
like One person. And he's like, ah ah just the dot like that just the the sheer idiocy
00:32:51
Chasing Oz
but ah ah Believe anything.
00:32:52
Veronica Adams
you
00:32:52
Heather Roberts
believe anything
00:32:52
Chasing Oz
that and And that's the problem.
00:32:53
Veronica Adams
We have no media literacy in this country whatsoever.
00:32:56
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:32:56
Veronica Adams
None at all.
00:32:57
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:32:57
Chasing Oz
Yeah. And that's part of the problem.
00:32:58
Veronica Adams
None at all.
00:32:59
Chasing Oz
And then there's also the problem that You have this grifting culture, especially on apps like TikTok where people are are live all day.
00:33:05
Veronica Adams
you know Yes.
00:33:10
Chasing Oz
They're battling in like during the election, the amount of like. Trump versus Biden or Trump versus Harris battles, I saw from TikTok creators that I'd never seen before and were like old enough to be one of my first periods.
00:33:21
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:33:31
Chasing Oz
like you You are fetuses. You have zero idea what the fuck you're talking about.
00:33:35
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:33:38
Chasing Oz
You sound
00:33:39
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:33:40
Chasing Oz
just as ignorant as you'd look, and people are sitting there and tuning in and listening to it.
00:33:43
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:33:46
Chasing Oz
So there's a double-edged sword on TikTok where you have people like me that take time and effort and fact check, and then you have people that just do it because they want the clicks and the shock value or the conspiracy theory.
00:33:53
Heather Roberts
right
00:33:59
Chasing Oz
And during the election, people on our side of the sphere were falling down the, well, you know, he's not going to get inaugurated. just you just you wait it's coming and then there are the psychics and the the stars and all of it and i'm like
00:34:13
Heather Roberts
Oh my god. yeah
00:34:16
Chasing Oz
back here in reality, I just want you guys to stay grounded and understand that on the 20th, he's going to be inaugurated.
00:34:18
Heather Roberts
Oh my god.
00:34:26
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:34:27
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:34:27
Chasing Oz
There's no stopping that. There's nothing magical coming that's going to change it. And people were so mad at me for reality.
00:34:34
Veronica Adams
For busting their bubbles?
00:34:36
Heather Roberts
I saw people got mad.
00:34:38
Chasing Oz
and and but but but And the reason that I kept everybody grounded is because in the days after the election,
00:34:39
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:34:46
Chasing Oz
people were so nasty to me.
00:34:49
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:34:49
Chasing Oz
They were like, you said we were going to win. You said Florida was going to flip blue. Yeah. Well, when you go out to all these events and you see with your own two eyes, fucking 500 to 1,000 golf carts in the fucking villages with Doug Emhoff, and you're there with your own fucking two eyes in the mix of it all.
00:35:04
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:35:07
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:35:08
Heather Roberts
which has never happened before, by the way, like, yeah.
00:35:10
Chasing Oz
Exactly. Like when you're there and you are seeing it in real life, You understood it was electric, but I couldn't make all those 19 million people who stayed home on election day show up.
00:35:20
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:35:25
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:35:25
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:35:28
Chasing Oz
I can only do so much, and people were trying to hold me personally.
00:35:32
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:35:35
Chasing Oz
Well, fine then, unfollow me. I'm sorry that you did not like my hope.
00:35:38
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:35:39
Chasing Oz
You did not like what I did. I did it all out of the kindness of my heart. Nobody was paying me. I was driving all over the fucking state to go to these events on my own dime.
00:35:49
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:35:53
Chasing Oz
How dare you?
00:35:53
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:35:54
Heather Roberts
Right. No, it's ridiculous to hold creators accountable for trying to literally just talk about what they believe in, you
Book Industry Challenges and Evolution
00:36:01
Heather Roberts
know, and try to support what they learned.
00:36:01
Chasing Oz
yep
00:36:02
Veronica Adams
The amount of entitlement that comes with a parasocial relationship is is pretty disgusting, actually.
00:36:05
Chasing Oz
It's insane sometimes. I'm very good about setting boundaries with people because i don't I don't tolerate it.
00:36:09
Heather Roberts
No.
00:36:09
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:36:12
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:36:13
Chasing Oz
my My skin grew thick in the book world because the book world was very...
00:36:13
Heather Roberts
no
00:36:19
Heather Roberts
ah it could be v
00:36:19
Chasing Oz
like It was just starting to get really bad when I left, and I'm glad I left when I did because I don't think I could have stood much more.
00:36:23
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:36:28
Chasing Oz
Yeah. But...
00:36:30
Heather Roberts
that it is It is a cut throat industry for sure with very little rules or guidelines.
00:36:33
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:36:33
Chasing Oz
Yeah. Which is sad because when I started, it was a girls' girls' community.
00:36:40
Heather Roberts
Oh, yeah.
00:36:41
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:36:41
Chasing Oz
It was the camaraderie and the help that everybody gave each other and the hype that we hyped each other up.
00:36:48
Heather Roberts
Yup.
00:36:49
Chasing Oz
And then Kindle Unlimited happened and that was it.
00:36:52
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:36:53
Heather Roberts
And then the the Kindle stuffers and everybody just wanted to monopolize and capitalize and...
00:36:55
Chasing Oz
Yep.
00:36:59
Veronica Adams
mi Me, me, me. How do I get to the top of this pile?
00:37:01
Chasing Oz
They beat the system. They figured out how they could.
00:37:02
Heather Roberts
Yup.
00:37:03
Veronica Adams
and
00:37:04
Chasing Oz
Yep. Yeah, ghost writers and fucking all of it.
00:37:05
Heather Roberts
And people... Yup. And now it's AI.
00:37:11
Veronica Adams
yeah Yeah, they've just replaced it with AI now.
00:37:11
Heather Roberts
That's the new generation.
00:37:13
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:37:15
Heather Roberts
Oh, and it'll be something else in another six months to a year.
00:37:18
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:37:19
Chasing Oz
Mm hmm.
00:37:19
Heather Roberts
Oh, I mean, just how it is.
00:37:21
Chasing Oz
And that's why it took me another fucking 10 years to write another book.
00:37:25
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:37:26
Chasing Oz
Because at the end of the day, it's a roll of the dice. It's gonna cost a ton of money to put together on my own. And then what's gonna happen? Who fucking knows? Jeff Bezos is gonna tell me to fuck myself.
00:37:39
Chasing Oz
Nobody's gonna see it on his stupid shitty ass website. Where everybody goes to buy books.
00:37:43
Heather Roberts
what I mean, back in the day when you originally published, you know, like when you were starting to self publish, it was a much smaller pond too, you know, like it is so saturated now in the market.
00:37:52
Chasing Oz
Yeah. Oh yeah. It was a lot more quality back then.
00:37:58
Heather Roberts
Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.
00:38:00
Chasing Oz
The only people that were really doing well were those who did well, not just any anybody. Like there are so many people that are writing these days and I'm like, stop it.
00:38:13
Chasing Oz
You're not even good. Like, what why? Stop subjecting us to this and stop fooling yourself, thinking it's good. It's like saying 50 Shades of Grey was great. No, it was not.
00:38:23
Heather Roberts
No, appreciate it for what it was.
00:38:24
Chasing Oz
We all know it was shit.
00:38:26
Heather Roberts
we We loved it for a different reason.
00:38:26
Chasing Oz
It was a...
00:38:27
Heather Roberts
you know like
00:38:28
Chasing Oz
We loved it because it was a pioneer that opened a door. That was it.
00:38:31
Veronica Adams
that's great That's right.
00:38:31
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:38:32
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:38:32
Chasing Oz
The literary content of it was shit.
00:38:34
Chasing Oz
If I had to hear about, like, her inner fucking goddess or whatever the fuck she was talking about one more goddamn time, bitch, just say you're a pussy.
00:38:34
Heather Roberts
like
00:38:40
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:38:43
Heather Roberts
Like literally no, but I don't know anybody who, and I love Fifty Shades of Grey, right? Like, I love it. But I don't know anybody who's like, that was an amazing literary masterpiece.
00:38:54
Veronica Adams
ab Absolutely no one.
00:38:54
Chasing Oz
Exactly And I'm not saying that I wrote any literary masterpieces I did not I wrote some straight-up porn you want to hear some fucking shit that Wouldn't be allowed in a school.
00:38:54
Heather Roberts
Like, no, and no one's saying it in a Chin Bay.
00:39:01
Heather Roberts
No, no.
00:39:09
Chasing Oz
Yeah, go read some Don Robertson You're looking for strap-ons and fucking whatnot on the chick to come to but like if you're looking for wholesome content Not not me
00:39:12
Heather Roberts
There you go.
00:39:22
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm.
00:39:22
Heather Roberts
There's so many more sub-genres now though, like truly in the industry since you last, like, oh my God, there's so many.
00:39:25
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:39:27
Chasing Oz
When I left, when I left, it was when the Step Brothers was really hot.
00:39:32
Veronica Adams
Oh, this that brother era.
00:39:32
Heather Roberts
Oh, yes.
00:39:34
Chasing Oz
And I was like, yeah. I was like, I got to get the fuck out of here.
00:39:39
Heather Roberts
Yes.
00:39:39
Chasing Oz
I can't do this.
00:39:42
Heather Roberts
Everybody's stepbrothers something stepbrothers here.
00:39:44
Chasing Oz
Listen, you want to watch that? Go on the fucking Pornhub.
00:39:46
Veronica Adams
Well.
00:39:48
Chasing Oz
Get out of here.
00:39:48
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:39:49
Veronica Adams
they i don't
00:39:49
Chasing Oz
We don't need and then and then it and then it pivoted to like step dad. And I'm like, OK, come on.
00:39:54
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:39:56
Veronica Adams
It's so much darker and taboo than that now. I don't know. Does book talk ever come across your radar when you're when you're creating or engaging with your content?
00:40:01
Chasing Oz
No. Not usually.
00:40:04
Heather Roberts
oh Oh, Danielle.
00:40:05
Veronica Adams
Oh, the girl, they're they're fiends for like serial killers now.
00:40:08
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:40:09
Veronica Adams
Like it is dark.
00:40:10
Chasing Oz
Oh, fuck.
00:40:11
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:40:11
Chasing Oz
Then they should read Good Girl by Dawn Robertson and Lily White. That was one of the OG pioneers of like bad shit.
00:40:15
Heather Roberts
There you go.
00:40:16
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:40:19
Veronica Adams
Yes, yes.
00:40:20
Chasing Oz
Yeah, we were pushing envelope with that one.
00:40:21
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:40:23
Chasing Oz
It's a it's a kidnap. It's a kidnap.
00:40:24
Veronica Adams
they slit They have slid right past morally gray heroes into the basement of like, you know, he's got a black heart and the only light spot in it is how he feels about her, but he still may like kill her.
00:40:25
Heather Roberts
Oh, okay.
00:40:29
Heather Roberts
Yes.
00:40:30
Chasing Oz
Are we? Killer.
00:40:37
Heather Roberts
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:37
Veronica Adams
Yeah, it's dark.
00:40:39
Heather Roberts
Super dark.
00:40:40
Chasing Oz
Jesus Christ.
00:40:40
Veronica Adams
Yep. Oh, yeah.
00:40:42
Heather Roberts
All right.
00:40:42
Chasing Oz
I have a, I have a really, really, really, really, really good idea. I just need to like, I can't tell you because then people are going to know.
00:40:46
Heather Roberts
What's that? Oh, oh, like you have a good book idea.
00:40:49
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:40:51
Chasing Oz
Like I need to write it.
00:40:51
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:40:52
Chasing Oz
Like, yeah, like a really, like a, like a Don Robertson, like erotic thriller.
00:40:53
Heather Roberts
I got you. OK.
00:40:58
Veronica Adams
Nice.
00:40:58
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:40:58
Chasing Oz
I've had it on the back burner in the back of my head.
00:41:01
Chasing Oz
Now if I can just channel my ADHD into putting it on the paper because it
00:41:07
Heather Roberts
Yeah, you should.
00:41:10
Chasing Oz
I need to.
00:41:11
Heather Roberts
You know, you know who to call when you're ready.
00:41:12
Veronica Adams
Get some dictation software and just start speaking into it when you're doing other stuff.
00:41:16
Chasing Oz
I forgot about all the tech. like To me, I'm so old school that like I have to sit down and like start at the beginning.
00:41:20
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:41:22
Chasing Oz
and
00:41:22
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:41:23
Heather Roberts
No, just grab a little dictation.
00:41:26
Veronica Adams
Pants that thing. Just start talking into the software until the book's done and then send it to an editor.
00:41:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:41:30
Chasing Oz
I mean, as you're not wrong. I got it i got a good editor.
00:41:34
Veronica Adams
There you go.
00:41:35
Heather Roberts
Yeah, exactly.
00:41:36
Chasing Oz
I still have all my people. Like, I just need to put everybody back to work.
00:41:38
Veronica Adams
There we go.
00:41:38
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:41:41
Chasing Oz
Everybody's still kind of doing the same stuff.
00:41:42
Veronica Adams
Gotta get the band back together.
00:41:43
Chasing Oz
I know the band back together.
00:41:44
Heather Roberts
Yeah, put them back together.
00:41:46
Chasing Oz
Who wants to Don Robertson come back?
00:41:49
Heather Roberts
That's right.
00:41:49
Veronica Adams
Yes! The reunion tour.
00:41:52
Heather Roberts
Does anybody know, like did do you ever talk about um your books on your platform?
00:41:57
Chasing Oz
Occasionally.
00:41:57
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:41:57
Heather Roberts
Okay.
00:41:58
Chasing Oz
Yeah, I have like my John Robertson author page in my, uh, my, my link tree.
00:42:02
Veronica Adams
Nice.
00:42:03
Chasing Oz
Uh, it's chasing us dot.bio. If anybody would like to drop by and look at all the links, but, uh, yeah, I have my John Roberts and stuff in there.
00:42:08
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:42:12
Chasing Oz
it's still available on Amazon. I mean, every once in a while I'll get like 11 cents from Amazon deposited into my bank account.
00:42:14
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:42:20
Veronica Adams
About right.
00:42:21
Chasing Oz
And I'm like, thank you for the one person that read a book this month. Appreciate you.
00:42:25
Heather Roberts
i
00:42:25
Chasing Oz
You're the real MVP.
00:42:27
Heather Roberts
I'm assuming on Kindle Unlimited because that sounds like a page read.
00:42:30
Chasing Oz
Yeah, basically.
00:42:32
Veronica Adams
God, 11 cents for a book.
00:42:32
Chasing Oz
Something red hurts.
00:42:35
Heather Roberts
I know, right?
00:42:36
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:42:37
Veronica Adams
I mean, Jesus.
00:42:38
Chasing Oz
Killing it.
00:42:39
Heather Roberts
Killing it.
00:42:40
Chasing Oz
And everybody's like, authors are rich. OK.
00:42:42
Heather Roberts
OK, OK.
00:42:44
Veronica Adams
We need someone to come up with real competition for KU.
00:42:47
Heather Roberts
Oh, my God, that would be amazing. That'd be truly amazing.
00:42:49
Chasing Oz
I know.
00:42:51
Heather Roberts
I don't think it's happening in the next four years though, my friends.
00:42:52
Veronica Adams
Now, bigger problems to deal with, I suppose.
00:42:55
Chasing Oz
Mm-mm.
00:42:57
Heather Roberts
We do.
00:42:58
Veronica Adams
We'll be lucky to still have free speech in four years.
00:43:00
Chasing Oz
Right? I'm worried about that some days.
00:43:02
Veronica Adams
The forced conformity, people, you know, reporting each other and, you know, I just.
00:43:03
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:43:04
Chasing Oz
You know, honestly, though, I'm just going to fucking go into the next four years with like the fucking I'm going to burn this shit to the ground mentality and I'm going to use my platform to rile everybody up with me because it's time for a revolution.
00:43:17
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:43:23
Chasing Oz
I don't give a fuck what anybody says.
00:43:24
Heather Roberts
and
00:43:26
Chasing Oz
Don't don't yell at me.
00:43:28
Heather Roberts
People say we're overreacting and then they, we start looking at the actual legislation and they're like,
00:43:28
Chasing Oz
Don't come at me.
00:43:28
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:43:33
Chasing Oz
No, yeah, no, it's time.
Political Engagement and Economic Critique
00:43:34
Heather Roberts
no, we're not.
00:43:35
Chasing Oz
It's past time.
00:43:36
Heather Roberts
And I mean, they got rid of Roe v. Wade. I mean, we are, yeah it's already gone way too far.
00:43:40
Chasing Oz
We should have let this happen. It's already gotten too far. And it's complacency.
00:43:45
Heather Roberts
wait Yeah.
00:43:45
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:43:47
Chasing Oz
It's all it is.
00:43:49
Heather Roberts
People are, people are comfortable.
00:43:49
Chasing Oz
It's people are comfortable in their fucking day to day lives.
00:43:52
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:43:53
Chasing Oz
You know, everybody went to the polls and they said that they were voting for egg prices and gasoline prices. Well, I don't know about you, but I went down to my little my grocery store at the end of my street on fucking inauguration day.
00:44:07
Chasing Oz
And I paid $10.69 for an 18 pack of eggs here in Florida. So you want to talk about egg prices.
00:44:14
Veronica Adams
Good God.
00:44:14
Heather Roberts
I just have $7 for a dozen eggs here in Vermont.
00:44:18
Chasing Oz
it the Egg prices are up 37% this week. So, you know,
00:44:22
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:44:25
Chasing Oz
egg prices.
00:44:25
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:44:26
Chasing Oz
You guys voted for it. One of the first executive orders is fucking stripped the price caps on prescription drugs that Joe Biden got put in place. Well, enjoy your $4,000 insulin now because that's what's going to happen.
00:44:38
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:44:40
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:44:40
Chasing Oz
but We're right back to square one.
00:44:43
Heather Roberts
It's really frustrating. So yeah, yell and scream. And that's also why we're doing this because we have, I think, especially as business owners, right in this industry, we've always been like, Oh, well, we don't want to step on too many toes or we don't want the time is gone.
00:44:59
Heather Roberts
Come and go on for that. Okay.
00:45:01
Chasing Oz
Yeah, no, the last thing that we have left is our dollar to impact the the people.
00:45:05
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:45:05
Veronica Adams
Yeah. That's right.
00:45:08
Heather Roberts
And our voices, and we have to use them, you know.
00:45:08
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:45:10
Chasing Oz
Maybe some more Luigi's.
00:45:12
Heather Roberts
Yeah, I mean, I'll borrow your party.
00:45:14
Veronica Adams
A whole Mario party, honestly.
00:45:16
Chasing Oz
Right? Add Mario in there, the princess.
00:45:19
Veronica Adams
Yes. Wait, we need them all. but Listen.
00:45:22
Chasing Oz
King Cooper.
00:45:23
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:45:23
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:45:23
Veronica Adams
I'd take the bad guys too. Give me a Bowser. Give me eat like whoever you got.
00:45:27
Chasing Oz
Yoshi.
00:45:28
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:45:28
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:45:28
Veronica Adams
Oh, Yoshi.
00:45:29
Chasing Oz
I'll be the princess. We're good to go.
00:45:31
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:45:31
Heather Roberts
I mean, we're, we're in a weird ass time and we can't keep going on like we're not.
00:45:35
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm.
00:45:39
Heather Roberts
So for those who are listening who are like, well, this is a little edgier than their normal content. Yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be no, but it's fine.
00:45:39
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:45:46
Chasing Oz
That's what happens when I show up.
00:45:49
Heather Roberts
I mean, it's, we've sort of been moving in this direction and it's going to be so.
00:45:53
Chasing Oz
but Troublemaker.
00:45:53
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:45:55
Chasing Oz
Listen.
00:45:55
Veronica Adams
Well, listen, our livelihood is the publishing industry. That's how we make our money supporting authors.
00:45:58
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:45:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah. And romance books.
00:46:00
Veronica Adams
And if there isn't free speech and our authors can't publish their books and their ability to be creative is under attack, then so is our ability to support ourselves and fuck anyone who's going to get in the way of that.
00:46:08
Chasing Oz
And there they're coming for all the platforms.
00:46:10
Heather Roberts
Oh, how do you feel about that?
00:46:12
Chasing Oz
They're coming for the TikTok. They're coming for the places that we use as community squares.
00:46:13
Veronica Adams
Exactly.
00:46:14
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Advertising with Unity Squares, yeah.
00:46:17
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:46:19
Chasing Oz
Yep, the places that we use to connect. Now, I encourage everybody to go over to Lowe's and invest in some tar, we're going to start tar and feathering some motherfuckers.
00:46:27
Veronica Adams
and hol Yeah.
00:46:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:46:30
Chasing Oz
Because you know at this point, what more can we do?
00:46:33
Chasing Oz
you know We can only march in the streets so much.
00:46:34
Heather Roberts
All right.
00:46:35
Chasing Oz
That's not working.
00:46:36
Veronica Adams
It doesn't really get anybody's attention and and impact and make an impact or enact any sort of pain.
00:46:40
Chasing Oz
Not anymore.
00:46:41
Heather Roberts
no They don't care. They're just like, oh, just ignore them.
00:46:43
Chasing Oz
Not anymore.
00:46:44
Heather Roberts
Just ignore them.
00:46:44
Veronica Adams
They make, they make fun of us on Fox news and Newsmax, and then they move on with the next thing they want to do to roll us back to the dark ages.
00:46:45
Heather Roberts
They'll go away.
00:46:49
Chasing Oz
Yeah, because the but rich are the ruling class now.
00:46:53
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:46:53
Heather Roberts
Mm-hmm.
00:46:54
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:46:54
Chasing Oz
The billionaires are the ones in charge. It's not the lawmakers.
00:46:57
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:46:58
Chasing Oz
Citizens United made corporations people.
00:47:00
Veronica Adams
Girl.
00:47:02
Chasing Oz
And now this is what we've gotten. Now the billionaires run the show.
00:47:05
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes. Dark, dirty corporate money.
00:47:09
Heather Roberts
Yeah, I heard someone call it a broligarchy, and it it is the most accurate thing I've ever heard.
00:47:13
Chasing Oz
Yep.
00:47:16
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:47:17
Chasing Oz
It's exactly what it is.
00:47:18
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:47:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:19
Veronica Adams
Revenge of the Nerd.
00:47:19
Chasing Oz
All of the Silicon Valley fucking rich billionaires that they've been complaining about, drain the swamp the past fucking eight years, you handed the keys over.
00:47:19
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:24
Heather Roberts
Oh, yeah.
00:47:34
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:47:34
Chasing Oz
do We subsidize Elon Musk as a government.
00:47:38
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:38
Veronica Adams
Oh, yeah. His government contracts?
00:47:39
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:40
Chasing Oz
We pay his bills.
00:47:40
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:47:41
Chasing Oz
I love when people are like, well, at least he supports his kids.
00:47:42
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:47:42
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:45
Chasing Oz
No, bitch, you do.
00:47:45
Veronica Adams
We do.
00:47:45
Heather Roberts
You do.
00:47:46
Chasing Oz
I do.
00:47:47
Heather Roberts
Yeah. yeah
00:47:48
Chasing Oz
Because of the amount of money we give his companies every year.
00:47:50
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:47:51
Chasing Oz
I say we stop giving these big corporation government handouts.
00:47:56
Heather Roberts
I agree.
00:47:57
Veronica Adams
nay
00:47:58
Heather Roberts
100%. Make them pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
00:47:59
Chasing Oz
Wait. eat Defund the billionaires.
00:48:01
Veronica Adams
Listen. Listen. they're They're after DEI, right?
00:48:04
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:48:06
Veronica Adams
Like, that's right.
00:48:07
Chasing Oz
the They're all DEI. The only reason that they're DE anything is because they have dollars. That's it.
00:48:12
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:48:13
Heather Roberts
yeah Yeah.
00:48:13
Chasing Oz
That's what their D is because it's It's not their dicks We've heard about all that Like come on I'm so over rich people again Luigi
00:48:14
Veronica Adams
It's not a meritocracy around here. it For sure.
00:48:25
Veronica Adams
Yeah. It's corporate welfare. Corporate welfare. Yeah.
00:48:33
Heather Roberts
I mean, there's, listen, we all strive to be wealthy, right?
00:48:33
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:48:37
Heather Roberts
We all strive to be wealthy. But I'd like to think that if I had that much fucking money, I would not be that guy. You know, I wouldn't be.
00:48:47
Heather Roberts
And I wouldn't, because I wouldn't have that much money, I would give away the money.
00:48:47
Veronica Adams
I mean, Mark Cuban and Taylor Swift exists.
00:48:50
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:48:51
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Like,
00:48:53
Chasing Oz
What gets me, though, is where are all of the Elon Musk cancer wings?
00:49:01
Veronica Adams
Thank you.
00:49:01
Heather Roberts
thank
00:49:02
Chasing Oz
Where are all of the Mark Zuckerberg Research Institutes?
00:49:06
Veronica Adams
Libraries. Huh.
00:49:08
Heather Roberts
Well, because back in the day, okay, back in like, in, in earlier America, right, we've had, you know, for a skill range, we've had people who are this rich in the country.
00:49:08
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:13
Veronica Adams
The first Gilded Age.
00:49:19
Heather Roberts
The difference is we as a society,
00:49:22
Chasing Oz
had a different tax structure too.
00:49:25
Heather Roberts
All that too, but we also essentially shamed them if they didn't do things with their money that were in the public good, right?
00:49:34
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:49:35
Heather Roberts
They would not have had a good reputation in the community and in society if they didn't, you know, have a national park, put money towards a national park or whatever the fuck, okay?
00:49:40
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:49:47
Veronica Adams
you You can't throw a stone in New York without hitting something that the Rockefellers paid for, and you can't throw a stone in Pittsburgh without hitting something the Carnegie's paid for.
00:49:51
Chasing Oz
Exactly.
00:49:51
Heather Roberts
Correct.
00:49:52
Chasing Oz
i
00:49:55
Chasing Oz
the flag lures down here in Florida.
00:49:55
Veronica Adams
Come on now.
00:49:55
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:49:57
Veronica Adams
Exactly, exactly.
00:49:57
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:49:58
Veronica Adams
and And the plants on the other side.
00:49:59
Heather Roberts
We apparently, as a society, you know, have stopped the public shaming and have just like, oh, you get to keep all your money for yourself.
00:50:00
Veronica Adams
Yeah, exactly.
00:50:01
Chasing Oz
But also, and yeah but that's also a point in time in America where the corporate tax rate was 50%.
00:50:05
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:50:07
Veronica Adams
Great.
00:50:08
Heather Roberts
What?
00:50:16
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:16
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:50:17
Chasing Oz
I say we start taxing the corporations the way that they should be taxed.
00:50:24
Heather Roberts
I agree.
00:50:25
Chasing Oz
tax the 1% the way they should be taxed and fucking bring back where we were in the Industrial Revolution. You want to invest in America?
00:50:34
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:50:35
Heather Roberts
That's how to do it.
00:50:36
Chasing Oz
Tax wealthy. Because you don't see people like that doing good. Elon Musk was like, if you give me the plan to solve world hunger, I'll fund it. They gave him the plan.
00:50:46
Heather Roberts
You didn't know anything.
00:50:47
Chasing Oz
He didn't do anything.
00:50:48
Veronica Adams
And, you know, we've been.
00:50:49
Chasing Oz
He's a troll. That's all he is. He's not smart.
00:50:51
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:50:52
Chasing Oz
He hasn't invented anything. He's bought other people's good ideas.
00:50:55
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:50:56
Chasing Oz
It's all he's ever fucking done.
00:50:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:50:58
Chasing Oz
He's not an engineer. He doesn't have an engineering degree.
00:50:59
Heather Roberts
Nope.
00:51:01
Chasing Oz
He's just a fucking rich frat bro that bought other fucking men's smart ideas.
00:51:03
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:51:07
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:51:08
Heather Roberts
Yeah, that's 100% truth.
00:51:11
Veronica Adams
And we've been waiting 45 years for Reagan's trickle down to start trickling down.
00:51:14
Chasing Oz
Trickle down.
00:51:15
Veronica Adams
And the only thing that's trickling down is is the working class getting, well, exactly.
00:51:18
Chasing Oz
the wealth up to them.
00:51:20
Veronica Adams
It's a reverse it's a reverse trickle and everybody at the bottom is getting pissed on.
00:51:23
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:51:24
Veronica Adams
Like that's the only thing that's trickling down.
00:51:27
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:51:27
Chasing Oz
but you know And then you see like this past week, i i my kids love NASCAR, former NASCAR driver, Tony Stewart.
00:51:35
Veronica Adams
Oh, God.
00:51:35
Chasing Oz
Not a millionaire, not a billionaire, not a fucking not a not a tech bro, not a one percenter.
00:51:42
Veronica Adams
He's just a good old boy from Indiana.
00:51:43
Chasing Oz
He's just a guy. He funded a cancer wing for kids at a hospital local to where he was that'll
00:51:51
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:51:52
Chasing Oz
Handle something like 20 2,500 kids a year and like he's not even that rich Like We're fucked Yeah Yeah, like I just There's no and there's nobody and they're not doing anything good.
00:51:57
Heather Roberts
Wow.
00:51:59
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:51:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:52:02
Veronica Adams
I mean, he's rich enough to do that, but he probably had some angel investors and he probably raised some money with his goodwill in his name and his brand, like,
00:52:04
Heather Roberts
But he's not he's not. Yeah.
00:52:11
Heather Roberts
He's not lost Grinch or Bingo Grinch.
00:52:17
Veronica Adams
Listen, if Mark Cuban can sell prescriptions for cost plus 10%, any billionaire can do something good for the rest of us.
00:52:18
Heather Roberts
No.
00:52:20
Chasing Oz
I
00:52:22
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:52:23
Chasing Oz
Yep, they just don't have the desire to.
00:52:26
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:52:26
Heather Roberts
They don't want to, yeah.
00:52:28
Chasing Oz
Nope.
00:52:29
Veronica Adams
they They want to get all the tax breaks they can and apparently have a dick measuring contest on Mars someday.
00:52:31
Heather Roberts
Oh my god,
00:52:35
Veronica Adams
Like,
00:52:36
Heather Roberts
right.
00:52:36
Chasing Oz
Okay, let's just put them all in a rocket and send them now, just like the the millionaires and the Titanic.
00:52:41
Veronica Adams
please, please, they can go.
00:52:43
Chasing Oz
Can we just send them to the Titanic?
00:52:45
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:52:46
Chasing Oz
Send them anywhere. Just fucking zoom them out to Mars.
00:52:48
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:52:50
Chasing Oz
Elon Musk wants to go to Mars. Let's send him.
00:52:53
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:52:53
Chasing Oz
That's something I'll fund.
00:52:55
Veronica Adams
I mean, he's not the only one.
00:52:55
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:52:55
Chasing Oz
Oh, I will solely, I'll do the GoFundMe.
00:52:57
Veronica Adams
Jeff wants to go with him.
00:53:00
Heather Roberts
Yeah, there you go.
00:53:00
Chasing Oz
I'll fucking raise the funds to send, I don't care how, a billion dollars?
00:53:03
Heather Roberts
People would support that.
00:53:05
Chasing Oz
I could do that.
00:53:06
Heather Roberts
People would totally support that.
00:53:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah, for sure.
00:53:08
Chasing Oz
Absolutely. Send him to the sun. How about that?
00:53:11
Veronica Adams
Ooh.
00:53:12
Heather Roberts
Oh, that would be the matter.
00:53:12
Chasing Oz
That looks like some fucking fun adventure, right? where Where do they go that they'll just explode like in the Titanic?
00:53:16
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:53:21
Chasing Oz
Could we send them there?
00:53:22
Heather Roberts
Like the submersible.
00:53:23
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:53:24
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:53:25
Chasing Oz
Just send them down with one of those Logitech controllers. They'll be fine.
00:53:27
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Oh, my God, that was so wild. I can't even. Oh,
00:53:32
Veronica Adams
The hubris. I mean, how?
00:53:35
Chasing Oz
Fuck my life.
00:53:37
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:53:37
Heather Roberts
my God.
00:53:38
Veronica Adams
I know.
00:53:39
Chasing Oz
All we need to do is get them in something like that.
00:53:42
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:53:43
Veronica Adams
We also need leaders who will actually represent us. I mean, the the the biggest problem is There are 535 people on Capitol Hill who are conducting insider 533, right?
00:53:49
Chasing Oz
The Nancy
00:53:55
Veronica Adams
Because Bernie and AOC don't do it, but they're the only two who don't.
00:53:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:53:59
Chasing Oz
We need to, yeah, there needs to be a ban on congressional members, owning, dabbling in stocks.
00:54:01
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:54:01
Veronica Adams
and look Yes. wait We need term limits. we We need to discuss age limits.
00:54:06
Chasing Oz
all
00:54:08
Veronica Adams
We definitely need to ban insider trading and corporate or and congressional investing and trading.
00:54:12
Chasing Oz
Listen, if you can fall and break your hip, you need to retire.
00:54:16
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:54:16
Veronica Adams
If you can be missing in an assisted living facility for six months and not showing up to vote other than by proxy, you have no business being in Congress.
00:54:24
Chasing Oz
Right?
00:54:24
Heather Roberts
Yeah, 100%.
00:54:25
Chasing Oz
Who's in charge?
00:54:26
Heather Roberts
different
00:54:27
Chasing Oz
Who's taking attendance?
00:54:29
Veronica Adams
Somebody go get your meme all and take her home.
00:54:31
Chasing Oz
What's happening?
00:54:33
Chasing Oz
This is fucking government.
00:54:33
Veronica Adams
She has no business being a Congress person.
00:54:36
Chasing Oz
Did nobody notice she was missing?
00:54:36
Heather Roberts
It's wild.
00:54:39
Heather Roberts
They did.
00:54:39
Chasing Oz
Somebody knew where the fuck she was.
00:54:42
Veronica Adams
but Somebody was voting for her by proxy, I believe.
00:54:44
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:54:45
Chasing Oz
Mother fuck, yeah.
00:54:45
Veronica Adams
which Mike Johnson wants to prevent ah women women who are of childbearing age from doing that themselves.
00:54:51
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:54:52
Chasing Oz
Dude, there's a story actually coming out of Vermont. I don't know if you've seen this. You saw this about the women that were being monitored during, yeah, dude, they're in trouble
00:54:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah.
Political Dynamics in Vermont and Florida
00:55:01
Chasing Oz
too.
00:55:02
Chasing Oz
They were fucking, they were, the ah ah DCF was like fabricating shit and monitoring women without their knowledge while they were in labor.
00:55:12
Chasing Oz
and Oh yeah, that's, no bueno.
00:55:12
Heather Roberts
Yeah. The big story in Vermont, I mean, and people in Vermont are not going to stand for that. Like we don't, that's not a, yeah, that is a do not fuck with that shit up here.
00:55:19
Chasing Oz
No, don't tread on me.
00:55:26
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
00:55:27
Heather Roberts
Yeah, people are, yeah, yeah.
00:55:27
Veronica Adams
I've been in jerry's at their back door one of these days.
00:55:32
Chasing Oz
Dude, that's some shit.
00:55:32
Heather Roberts
Well, that is a lot of things and it's it's an interesting place up here. You know, people are, we have a Republican governor that everybody keeps, you know, voting for.
00:55:42
Chasing Oz
Sununu, right?
00:55:43
Heather Roberts
ah No, Phil skye so Scott, Phil Scott.
00:55:44
Chasing Oz
OK, different guy.
00:55:47
Heather Roberts
Sununu wasn't, yeah, but our, well yeah, but the actual legislative body is like overwhelmingly Democrat, progressive, liberal, like depending upon
00:55:48
Chasing Oz
Oh, I think he's New Hampshire.
00:55:51
Chasing Oz
Same shit.
00:56:01
Heather Roberts
you know, progressive party, we have that up here.
00:56:03
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:56:03
Heather Roberts
We have some independence in there, but progressively left, mostly left leaning, okay.
00:56:08
Veronica Adams
I think most people would call your Republican governor a Rhino, you know?
00:56:12
Heather Roberts
Many would, but people up here would not.
00:56:15
Veronica Adams
Well, fair enough.
00:56:15
Heather Roberts
So it's like fascinating, you know, how how that sort of politics work out. But my point being is that people who are not liking the reporting that's coming out about the, yeah, well, how, oh yeah.
00:56:25
Veronica Adams
Better than Danielle's Republican governor.
00:56:27
Chasing Oz
Oh, he's the worst.
00:56:29
Heather Roberts
Yeah, hell of a lot better.
00:56:31
Chasing Oz
I hate him.
00:56:31
Heather Roberts
Listen, I like Phil Scott.
00:56:33
Chasing Oz
I can't wait until he's gone for good.
00:56:36
Heather Roberts
Phil Scott's okay. like I don't love everything he stands for, but I don't hate everything he says.
00:56:41
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:56:41
Heather Roberts
He's a moderate Republican. He's what Republicans used to be, okay?
00:56:45
Chasing Oz
So you mean him and Joe Biden are on the same spectrum?
00:56:48
Heather Roberts
ah ah Essentially, yeah.
00:56:50
Chasing Oz
I used to fucking hate it when people would be like, Joe Biden's such a leftist.
00:56:53
Heather Roberts
You know
00:56:55
Chasing Oz
What the fuck are you talking about? Joe Biden and literally was ah ah basically a Republican.
00:56:57
Heather Roberts
he's not.
00:57:02
Chasing Oz
He was such a fucking centrist in his entirety of his career that if he was going to identify with any party a bitch, he should have been like a traditional old school GOP Republican, like like real Republican values.
00:57:02
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:57:13
Veronica Adams
Right. Yeah.
00:57:15
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:57:18
Veronica Adams
The biggest lie is that Democrats are leftists when in fact they're centrists and the, I mean, this entire country has moved to the right over about two and a half generations.
00:57:18
Chasing Oz
Joe Biden.
00:57:22
Chasing Oz
Right?
00:57:24
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:57:26
Chasing Oz
Dude, this is, yeah, so centrist.
00:57:30
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:57:30
Chasing Oz
So all the Democrats now, all of them, except for like Bernie, AOC, like the squad.
00:57:31
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:57:33
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:57:36
Heather Roberts
Oh, Bernie. Oh my God.
00:57:38
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:57:39
Heather Roberts
Bernie as a Vermont, like, you know, i but but yeah the last one with the mittens and he literally everybody's up chat clapping and cheering and Bernie's just sitting there, you know, all
00:57:41
Chasing Oz
I love him. At the inauguration, he he I was so glad to see him there with his fucking little post on his face sitting in the same position he did the last.
00:57:55
Veronica Adams
Grandpa ain't happy.
Danielle's Personal Projects and Privacy
00:58:02
Heather Roberts
we love.
00:58:02
Chasing Oz
Bernie was like, Bernie was like, fuck y'all.
00:58:02
Heather Roberts
party
00:58:05
Heather Roberts
Love Bernie. That, that is the Vermont vibe.
00:58:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:58:08
Heather Roberts
Okay. That is.
00:58:09
Chasing Oz
Bernays my mood for the next four years.
00:58:12
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Another reason why you need to move to Vermont and get out of Florida.
00:58:16
Chasing Oz
I need to do something. I need to get the fuck out of here before I get hit by another goddamn hurricane.
00:58:22
Heather Roberts
Yes.
00:58:22
Veronica Adams
oh
00:58:22
Heather Roberts
Yeah. so that evening yeah
00:58:23
Veronica Adams
Well, and if they get, that they get rid of FEMA, you guys are in trouble.
00:58:28
Chasing Oz
Dude! but I- I- Jesus take the wheel.
00:58:32
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:58:32
Chasing Oz
I- I mean, I don't even know what to do anymore. I'm trapped.
00:58:37
Veronica Adams
Like seven out of 10 of you can't even get homeowners insurance anymore.
00:58:40
Chasing Oz
No, I haven't had homeowners insurance in years, years since COVID.
00:58:44
Heather Roberts
god
00:58:48
Heather Roberts
Oh my
00:58:48
Chasing Oz
They canceled my policy during COVID because I couldn't put a new roof on my house. Yeah, i I'm laid off. Let me just fucking pull some money out of my asshole.
00:58:56
Heather Roberts
ah Cop up 30 grand.
00:58:59
Veronica Adams
Right?
00:59:00
Chasing Oz
Fuck.
00:59:01
Heather Roberts
Yeah, that's wild.
00:59:02
Chasing Oz
Yeah, no, it's a mess down here. It's a mess.
00:59:04
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:59:05
Chasing Oz
And actually, there was a pump station in my neighborhood that needed to be repaired after Hurricane Ian, which flooded our house the first time. And Ron DeSantis, line item vetoed that pump station.
00:59:19
Chasing Oz
So it never got repaired. So when Hurricane Milton came through in September or October, was in Africa and my house flooded again Same exact damage from Ian everything that we fixed from Ian was trash Back to square one and yeah, so good times great oldies.
00:59:32
Heather Roberts
i
00:59:43
Heather Roberts
Yeah, kind of love Florida.
00:59:45
Chasing Oz
I Don't want to do it again and again and again I'm over it the real estate market here has shit the bed
00:59:48
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:59:54
Chasing Oz
It's a mess.
00:59:55
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:59:55
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:59:55
Chasing Oz
Ron DeSantis has really driven the state right into the ground.
01:00:00
Heather Roberts
Well, and now they want to, you know, they're proposing to let states deal with their own problems and have FEMA just be not a part of it.
01:00:08
Veronica Adams
That's because they they don't want to help California right now.
01:00:08
Chasing Oz
Yeah.
01:00:09
Heather Roberts
unbeliev
01:00:11
Veronica Adams
That's ultimately what that's all about.
01:00:11
Chasing Oz
Well, the problem is, is that, you know, they don't realize the blue states are the ones that support the red states. They need those dollars because if not, the red states are literally going to bankrupt, like expediently.
01:00:19
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:21
Heather Roberts
Right.
01:00:28
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
01:00:30
Veronica Adams
Yes.
01:00:30
Heather Roberts
100%, 100%. So, oh, this has been awesome, guys.
01:00:36
Chasing Oz
Math is hard.
01:00:37
Heather Roberts
Thank you, Danielle, for coming on.
01:00:39
Veronica Adams
So is logic. like
01:00:39
Chasing Oz
Anytime. Anytime.
01:00:42
Heather Roberts
And if you have not checked her out, do drop your handles. What is your handles everywhere?
01:00:47
Chasing Oz
You can find me at Chasing Oz, like the Wizard of Oz everywhere, YouTube, Instagram, threads, TikTok, all of the good places. ah You can also find me at Chasing Oz ah dot substack dot com I write almost every day there.
01:01:04
Heather Roberts
Bye
01:01:07
Heather Roberts
bye.
01:01:08
Chasing Oz
And ah ah yeah, if you guys were Dawn Robertson fans back in the day, I write some personal pieces over there if you miss my writing.
01:01:18
Chasing Oz
if you If you really miss my writing, I am working on a new book, but this is my very first nonfiction book.
01:01:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
01:01:25
Chasing Oz
I'm writing about my relationship with my late sister. Who I lost in 2011. So it's been a therapeutic journey to write about our our relationship together She was a she was a fucking cool chick And halfway through like writing it it kind of morphed into like an ode to my daughter too So it's gonna be like a yeah, it's gonna be like a feel-good kind of Little kind of peek behind the curtain into the personal of of me
01:01:44
Heather Roberts
i love that
01:01:50
Heather Roberts
yeah
01:01:53
Veronica Adams
Nice.
01:01:57
Heather Roberts
world of tap
01:01:57
Chasing Oz
Which I've, met yeah, which I've never kind of, I'm very, you know, my family's not on the internet.
Future Writing Plans and Episode Preview
01:02:05
Chasing Oz
They don't want, they, they come on when they want to on their own terms, but it's, you know, that's their thing.
01:02:11
Heather Roberts
I love that.
01:02:13
Chasing Oz
I don't, this is me.
01:02:16
Heather Roberts
Right.
01:02:16
Chasing Oz
I do this as a job and you know, they separate. And even my daughter, when we did the heiress tour, she had to like, she was like the editor. She had to see, like, the final cut of everything before I used any of it for, like, anything.
01:02:29
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
01:02:30
Chasing Oz
And I'm like, ugh, okay.
01:02:31
Veronica Adams
Really?
01:02:33
Chasing Oz
Not that I just didn't pay, like, all this money to bring you to Amsterdam for this fucking show, but here, yeah, you be the...
01:02:36
Heather Roberts
Right.
01:02:41
Chasing Oz
the boss.
01:02:43
Heather Roberts
I love it. I love it. Well, check her out and check out Dawn Robertson novels as well, because I imagine.
01:02:45
Veronica Adams
For
01:02:45
Chasing Oz
Oh.
01:02:49
Chasing Oz
Yeah, if you like strong female characters, that's what I wrote, badass bitches.
01:02:49
Veronica Adams
sure.
01:02:56
Heather Roberts
Love it.
01:02:57
Veronica Adams
Love it.
01:02:58
Heather Roberts
So. Well, come and join us again. Our next episode is going to be a follow-up for the Justin Baldin Baldoni. I don't know why I keep butchering his last name.
01:03:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah, Blake Lively.
01:03:08
Heather Roberts
b And Blake Lively, it ends with us drama. There has been more lawsuits filed. More clips and things have been released.
01:03:15
Veronica Adams
Yes.
01:03:15
Heather Roberts
So that's what we're going to be talking about on our next episode. So come back with us then. So thank you again, Danielle. And we will see you next time.
01:03:22
Chasing Oz
Thank you for having me.
01:03:24
Veronica Adams
Yeah, thanks.
01:03:26
Heather Roberts
Yeah.