The Daily Signal - Meet Hair Salon Owner Who Went to Jail for Opening During COVID-19 Lockdown

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

Shelley Luther made national news at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic when she was arrested and jailed for a week in the spring of 2020 for reopening her North Dallas, Texas, salon contrary to the county's stay-at-home edict. "You get a lot of moments of silence by yourself," Luther said of her week in jail. "So, you do a lot of praying and wondering what's going on outside." She joins "The Daily Signal Podcast” to share her story as well as how the the coronavirus pandemic restrictions affected her small business—and those of others across Texas. "The biggest problem is the media scaring everybody to where you can't go anywhere," Luther said. "You can't do this without a vaccine, but then you get a vaccine, and you still have to wear a mask, and I think there's a lot of our older clientele that are still afraid to come get their hair done because of all of the mass hysteria," she said. We also cover these stories: President Joe Biden announced a $2 trillion infrastructure plan on Wednesday.  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., says Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., will lose his committee seats, including his seat on the House Judiciary Committee, if allegations of sex trafficking against him prove to be true.  49% of American voters are in favor of retaining the Senate filibuster, according to a new Rasmussen poll.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, April 1st. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judis. On today's Daily Signal podcast, Shelly Luther, a salon owner of a Texas beauty salon, joins me to talk about her experience of being thrown in jail for a week after opening her salon contrary to the coronavirus lockdown rules.

Don't forget. If you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others subscribe. Now on to our top news. President Joe Biden announced a $2 trillion American infrastructure plan on Wednesday. The plan is being called the American Jobs Plan and is focused on rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, growing clean energy, promoting electric vehicles, and increasing the needy and elderly's access to caregivers. The American Jobs Plan is reportedly going to be central to the Biden administration's economic agenda. To pay for the $2 trillion plan, Biden is proposing raising the

corporate tax rate to 28%, essentially resetting the rate to what it was before President Trump signed the tax cuts into law in 2017. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Biden's plan a Trojan horse, saying it is not going to be an infrastructure package. McConnell is critical of the plan for increasing America's national debt and raising taxes on the most productive parts of our economy. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says House Republican Matt Gates of Florida will lose his committee seats, including his seat in the House Judiciary Committee, if the allegations of sex trafficking against him are true. Here is what McCarthy told Fox News regarding the allegations surrounding Gates. There's also breaking news yesterday, Leader McCarthy, about

Congressman Matt Gates of Florida. And you've been very vocal that Congressman Eric Swalwell should be stripped of his ability to serve on the Intel Committee because of a reported relationship with the Chinese spy. He serves on the National Security Committee. I'm sorry, you say that's a national security threat on the Intel Committee. So by that same logic, will you take any action to remove Matt Gates from the Judiciary Committee while he's under investigation by the DOJ over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to with him. That's something he denies, but that would be a violation of federal sex trafficking laws. Look, I haven't heard from DOJ. I haven't been able to talk to Matt Gates yet. I just read the

story. Those are serious implications. If it comes out to be true, yes, we would remove them if that was the case. But right now, as Matt Gates says, this is not true and we don't have any information. So let's get all the information. Gates is currently being investigated by the Department of Justice for allegations of sex trafficking and relationship with a minor, which says that Gates broke federal sex trafficking laws by traveling with the underage girl across state lines. Gates is denying the allegations. Forty-nine percent of American voters support the filibuster. That's according to a new Rasmussen poll. The poll surveyed 1,000 voters and found that only 41 percent of respondents said they support eliminating the legislative

filibuster. 11 percent said they were unsure. When respondents were sent, separated between Republicans and Democrats, it was found that 65% of Democrats support eliminating the filibuster. Only 24% of Republicans say they are in favor of doing away with the filibuster. Interestingly enough, 67% of all those surveyed and 53% of Democrats surveyed say they believe it is more important to preserve our constitutional system of checks and balances than it is for the government to operate efficiently. The U.S. death rate increased by 15.9% between 2019 and 2020 due to COVID-19, according to a Wednesday report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 was the cause for one in 10 deaths in the country and was the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, per the Hill.

Now stay tuned for my conversation with Shelly Lucas on why she went to jail during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you have an interest in public policy? Do you want to hear some of the biggest names in American politics speak? The Heritage Foundation host webinars called Heritage Events Live. These webinars are free and open to the public. To find the latest webinars and register, visit heritage.org slash events. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Shelley Luther, a salon owner in Texas. Shelly, it's great to have you with us on the Daily Signal podcast.

Thanks for having me. Well, it's great to have you with us. So you and your whole story went really viral at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic when you were arrested and then jailed for opening your salon against your state's regulations. Can you tell us the story of what happened? Well, basically, we shut down for a month and they kept pushing back the goalpost and kept saying, you know, two more weeks to flatten the curb, two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks. When it turned into a month and every other store around me was open for no reason we were considered non-essential, I decided, you know, what we are essential. It's not about a haircut. It's about people's livelihoods and being able to feed their kids. So we opened. Through a lot of back and forth, I ended up in jail, May 5th, and I stayed through the 8th. And since then, we've been trying to help other businesses that are struggling. So what was that experience like? And did you ever think you'd end up in jail just for trying to keep your business open? Well, it wasn't my lifelong dream to end up in jail. But I felt like

it had to happen. And especially the Democratic local government was treating the way that they were. I knew I was going to jail when I walked into the courtroom before the trial even started. I was going to jail. What was the time in jail like? I mean, I know it was only a few days, but what were thoughts running through your head or things you remember from that time? You know, you get a lot of moments of silence by yourself. So you do a lot of praying and wondering what's going on outside because I was taken away inside the courtroom. I didn't even get to say goodbye, you know, to anyone. And I was shut off for a full 24 hours of what was happening. And I didn't know that everybody was rallying around me and money was being built up in an account. And that's what

kept me going afterward. Well, you had some strong words for how Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Pelosi went into a closed-chair salon without a mask. And you would call this blatant hypocrisy. Can you tell us about why you feel this way, especially just given the own personal story that you have? Well, I just think it's a joke that some government officials think they're better than everybody else. And the truth is they work for us. They are our employees. So for any of the government officials to think that they can do what they want to do and then condemn us for doing what we're just trying to survive is hypocrisy. It's ridiculous. And we need to vote those people out of office. Well, how have the coronavirus pandemic restrictions affected your small business? I want to talk about just things you're still working through right now. Are there still issues you're working through because of the different restrictions that have been passed down from the government?

I think a lot of it. And it's not really the restrictions anymore because being a hair salon, we're sanitary to begin with. We're trained. But the biggest problem is, is the media scaring everybody to, you know, you can't go anywhere. You can't do this without a vaccine. But then you get a vaccine and you still. have to wear a mask and I think there's a lot of our older clientele that are still afraid to come get their hair done because of all of the mass hysteria. How have you observed other small businesses that you may know or work with how they've been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions as well? Well, the problem is there have been businesses that have been open for a century that are closed forever. And this doesn't affect just the business owner. It affects the people that clean that business, the workers, the insurance, like anything to do, with that business. All of those people are out of a job. So it's not just small business owners.

It's everybody that this is impacting. And we don't want big box stores to be, you know, the story of our nation. It's small businesses that built this nation. As a small business owner, what do you think needs to happen when it comes to letting small businesses open back up and move forward? I mean, I know there are some states like Fort and Texas, like they're doing better, but other states are still really struggling. So do you have any insights or thoughts on what should happen to bring these businesses back? Well, I think Governor DeSantis being a leader as far as, you know, and Governor Kristi Noem just saying, you know, we're going to let people decide and create their own, you know, decide what's best for them or safe for them and their family. And that's

what needs to happen. And if there's governors, really, the governor of Texas has not really opened up Texas either. It's been a lot of people, especially in the rural counties, that just don't follow the mandates, not wearing masks and saying, you know, I'm an adult. I can do what I want as long as I'm not hurting anybody else, which we're not. And I think that if one state can be open, if everybody would just really go against the government on this and stand up and say, this isn't right, if everybody would do that, are they going to throw us all in jail? No, there's not enough jail cells. So that's what I would suggest. Well, you did run for the Texas St. Senate, and even though you lost, what do you want to do going forward? Do you see yourself staying in politics? What is your

thought for what you want to do after that during this time? Well, you know, that's a tough question because ever since this whole thing started, I've just been following God like what he tells me to do. And I don't have my own plan. Honestly, I wake up each day and I'm like, what's the plan today? And he's not good at telling us in advance what's happening. So right now, I'm, you know, being at CPAC is huge. Being someone that no one knew a year ago and I really was just a quiet person, you know, minding my own business, I think if I am on the platform and I can influence or compel people to get out and be active as a normal person and show everybody,

you could do this, then that's what I want to do. I want to encourage people to be more involved in their community at every level. Well, as a small business owner, what's your perspective of, so there's an inter exchange between Biden's press secretary, Jen Saki, where a question was asked, what is President Biden doing for my small business? And Saki answered the question by first responding, while she goes first and foremost, he nominated a woman to lead the Small Business Association. And so as a woman, as a small business owner, what is your perspective on this whole situation and the response? You know, the liberals want to boast about hiring different races or different genders or what they're doing is. creating a bigger hole between our parties.

The country has never been more racist than it is right now, except for like in the slavery days and before segregation. I think that they are creating a culture that is creating a huge divide between us. And they call for unity, but they're doing the opposite. Putting a woman in charge, who cares? Put the best person in charge. Women aren't going to look up and be like, oh, I'm so glad that's a woman.

no, we also, as hardworking women, want the best person there. If the woman's not smart, and I don't know this woman, but who cares? Like, if a man's going to do a better job, put the man in there because I just want to open my business. What would your message be to other women or other small business owners who might find themselves and who probably have, I mean, across this country in similar situations where their businesses shut down, they're not sure what to do? They're facing different restrictions or situations from, you know, their local or state or federal government, what would your message be since you, you know, are someone who has been through a situation

where you were shut down and have come through that? I think it's important to know that you're born with some God-given and alienable rights, and you don't need the government to give you those rights. The government has been created to protect your rights. So it's very backwards right now. And you're not doing anything wrong by standing up and saying that's not right. And that's why we actually developed a show called Courage to Stand, where we are actually going to interview people that have stood up or done amazing things they never thought they would do, and they're just regular people walking among us.

And I want people to feel compelled and say, that was a regular person. They're out and doing something. I want to do that too. You are that person that can stand up, and you don't have to be the leader, but you can be contributing positively to your community. Well, something that's entered the national conversation

and really become big recently is a situation. of cancel culture where, you know, we, you know, saw former President Trump, he was censored from Twitter, taken off of Twitter. Then we've seen other organizations on Twitter being, you know, removed. They can know or have their accounts. And in some ways, I think people could argue you were almost canceled by the government, you know, shutting you down and you were put in jail for a time. So what is your perspective of canceled culture and how do you think that should be combated? I think that as Americans, we are in charge of how things go. And, If companies or certain people are doing things a certain way, we stop making a big deal about it and go somewhere else.

We are in control of where we spend our money. We are in control of whom we watch on TV. And if we make the decision that, because people can't operate without money, they need money. If we don't spend our money in those places, then they're going to have to do something different. And we can whine and cry about it all we want. But if we can't practice free speech, liberty, all of these things, if we don't honor it on the other side too. But I think there should be open communication on both sides,

and we should be able to work things out openly on Twitter on social media. But I think they canceled that out because they're scared of what we're saying and they know it's the truth. Well, as we wrap up, just speaking about the truth, where do you suggest we go from here? There's a lot of work to do. And, you know, if we're talking about seeing people canceled, you've spent some time in jail.

And as we, you know, try to move on, Where do you think we should go from here? Well, I think you should, if you are one of those people that want to be politically active, you need to find a group in your area and start participating and start being educated on what's going on. And stop voting for people because you like their personality or what they look like or what they tell you. Look at voting records. It's clear data. It's black and white.

And you should have your values. And if they go against those, you need to find somebody else. And hopefully we get more regular people into. office because those people are closer to the heartbeat of what's going on in America. And we will make decisions based on what we've been through, not what we think other people should be doing. Well, Shully, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Signal podcast. It's been great having you with us.

Thanks for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening. We are off tomorrow for Good Friday. We hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend and we'll be back with you all on Monday.

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