Protesters March Through Charlotte Before Democratic Convention

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On Sunday afternoon, the Coalition to March on Wall Street South demonstrated amid Charlotte's mega-banks, chants bouncing off the towering steel and glass. The coalition's messages of income inequality, big-bank ruthlessness and money ruling politics may have been old, but for the city, the raucous sight was not.

The historic march stretched at least two city blocks and attracted large crowds along the route. Organizers said it at least equaled the mass protest during Bank of America's shareholders meeting this past spring. Ben Carroll, one of the organizers, estimated that protesters may have numbered between 2,000 and 3,000. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe suggested to The Huffington Post that it was more like 800 protesters. Either way, the visuals were impressive.

Some in the crowd complained they couldn't join the demonstration. There was one reported arrest.

"I'm still amazed that this is going on right now," said organizer Michael Zytkow at the end of the day. He added that the four-hour march met all the coalition's expectations. "Everybody is here as if this was a family reunion of sorts. In many ways it is. We're all going through similar experiences. We're all fighting the same battle. So this is a great moment to be around peers, colleagues, friends, family. We're all here united, taking a stand, you know, showing the political convention that for the people is really on the streets ... It's just a fantastic moment."

The moment is a rather new one for Charlotte, which is not known for a deep activist culture. But the Great Recession has helped foster the protesting spirit. Bank of America is headquartered here, as is a big Wells Fargo branch -- both members of the recession's axis of financial evil. Now, this week's Democratic National Convention has made Charlotte a destination.

By early Saturday morning, Occupy Wall Street activists had set up camp in the city's Marshall Park. Within 12 hours, the encampment sprawled with 20 tents, portable toilets and even a pizza delivery.

Zytkow was worrying about parking for the march: Where were all those people going to leave their cars?

Once the march finally began moving at 1 p.m. Sunday, however, the layer cake of protesters was ready. First the unemployed, then the student movement folks, then the immigrant rights advocates and so on. It had to be just so. At one point, when things weren't coming together quickly enough, a woman yelled into a microphone like some over-anxious Julia Child who thought she had mistaken salt for flour: "Young people, we're lining up your contingent!"

Down the long city blocks, onlookers snapped pictures from the balconies of bland new condo buildings. On sidewalks, residents and the just-flown-in, wearing Democratic convention lanyards, stood on tiptoes and peaked between rows of immovable police officers in dark blue. Many locals said they had never seen anything like it before, in the city known for its entrenched financial district, it's "Wall Street of the South" rep.

"I think it's a parade," said one girl in hushed tones, her mouth agape.

"This is awesome," said Ashley Dittrich, 18, looking on from the other side of the street. She had a big smile on her face and a phone in her hand to record it all. "It's amazing to see so many against the banks." She added that she works in the Hearst Tower at a coffee shop, serving drinks to bankers all day. Suddenly, now, that seemed like the worst thing in the world.

Dittrich said her father had been laid off from Bank of America after he checked himself into rehab. "We took out a lawsuit," she said.

Now her mother is the only one with a job. No one, she said, has health insurance. It's a familiar horror story of the Great Recession. "Our house has almost been foreclosed," she added. "We can barely keep it together."

Charlotte is a bank town, and loyalties die hard -- even for those with lawsuits. Dittrich admitted she still does her banking with Bank of America. Still, today, she could appreciate the bravery in others. "It's just amazing," she said. "There's all the police officers, and they're not intimidated."

The labor rights groups mingled with the Code Pinkers. The Occupiers blended in with the undocumented. The African-American community band, who complained about the lack of grant money, drummed along with the burned-out hippies, who complained about the war(s), in the sweltering heat.

They came in wheelchairs, carpools and bus caravans. They supported ex-convicts trying to find work in Mississippi and immigrants trying to keep work in Georgia. "Mic checks!" started up while others in the crowd danced to funky cumbias. A man in a wheelchair screamed, "Illuminati, sick of you!"

Every progressive denomination flew a banner. Some wore cardboard butterflies on their back. Others dialed in frequencies they hadn't heard since the '60s.

Before the march began, Lila Little, 56, sat in the shade in Frazier Park where organizers had planned a pre-march rally. She puffed on a Marlboro and told her story. It was one that couldn't fit on a piece of cardboard or be painted on a bed sheet. You didn't want to bang a drum to it either.

She had been a post-op surgical nurse in North Carolina. The job didn't provide health insurance. So when she became sick in 2009, she took extended leave. She ended up getting fired and saddled with $30,000 in medical debt. The company went on to deny her unemployment claim. It argued that she had been fired for cause. Her savings disappeared. She borrowed from family and friends, but she still ended up losing her home.

Friends who owned a small laundromat gave her job making $100 a week and allowed her to sleep on an air mattress in a back room. For a year, she bathed in the laundromat's sink. "I'm in the process now of moving in with my daughter," Little said. "That's a step up."

Sheri Wright, 54, sat in the rally's metal bleachers with her own list of causes. She lost her home and is fighting Bank of America to keep her land. She has two sons in the military. One is set to deploy to Afghanistan in October. She pulled out a homemade t-shirt on which she had drawn up a list of concerns in bright bubble paint. "Really I don't have enough shirt to write all my issues on it," she joked.

Wright said one son knew two soldiers who had committed suicide. This morning, she talked to a mother online whose son also committed suicide last month. "She found him," Wright explained. "What do I say to her?" All Wright can do is be here, she said, and march.

As the procession passed the CNN Grill and C-Span's perch in the late afternoon, Abel Tekle, 26, watched from the sidelines in his neon-green parking attendant uniform. He had immigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia seven years ago. He stood, sometimes smiling, as he filmed the protest with his HTC phone.

"When I say, 'Immigrant!', you say, 'Power!'" an activist began a call and response from inside the march.

"I like it," Tekle said. "They have freedom of speech."

An activist walked down the length of the march and shoved a flier in Tekle's hand -- a brochure to purchase the "Constitution for The New Socialist Republic In North America." All you had to do was send an $8 money order to a P.O. box in Chicago.

Tekle said he had never seen such a demonstration in his life. "It feels good," he explained. "If I believe in something, I would like to do this kind of thing."

The march made stops at Bank of America's headquarters, Duke Energy's headquarters and finally Bank of America Stadium, where President Barack Obama will be speaking on Thursday night. Eva De Vos, 23, had caught up with the march an hour earlier and had followed it on her purple bike. She couldn't pedal away.

"It made me really sad watching it," De Vos explained. "Sad that this is necessary."

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Robert Kuttner: What Bernanke Couldn't Quite Say

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke used his much-anticipated Friday speech at the Fed's annual end-of-summer conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to sound almost like the last Keynesian.

As he put it: "Monetary policy cannot achieve by itself what a broader and more balanced set of economic policies might achieve; in particular, it cannot neutralize the fiscal and financial risks that the country faces."

Commentators made much of the fact that Bernanke said that he considered the economy dangerously soft; that unemployment was far too high for this stage of a recovery; that housing continued to be a major drag, as well as state and local budget cuts.

Fed chairmen are famously Delphic. But Bernanke was blunt:

Growth in recent quarters has been tepid, and so, not surprisingly, we have seen no net improvement in the unemployment rate since January. Unless the economy begins to grow more quickly than it has recently, the unemployment rate is likely to remain far above levels consistent with maximum employment for some time.

Bernanke reviewed the Fed's non-traditional interventions that have kept interest rates at historic lows -- the massive purchases of government and other securities; the efforts to lock in very low interest rates for longer-term bonds; and vowed that "Taking due account of the uncertainties and limits of its policy tools, the Federal Reserve will provide additional policy accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery."

Despite his caveats, the financial press generally interpreted Bernanke's words as meaning that the Fed would undertake even more heroic measures to drive interest rates even lower. Perhaps the Fed will.

But that was not the import of Bernanke's remarks at all. His point was that the rest of the government had to do some heavy lifting, too.

"It is critical that fiscal policymakers put in place a credible plan that sets the federal budget on a sustainable trajectory in the medium and longer runs. However, policymakers should take care to avoid a sharp near-term fiscal contraction that could endanger the recovery."

Translation: we will never get a strong recovery just by relying on cheap interest rates. We need a more sensible fiscal policy.

A Federal Reserve chairman is not supposed to address such topics, because taxing and spending are not part of his franchise. But to the extent that the failure to stimulate the economy has put unrealistic pressure on the Fed to work miracles, fiscal policy is necessarily the Fed's business.

What Bernanke hinted at, but couldn't quite say, was this:

While we need to bring deficits down over the long term, for the next few years we need more stimulus, not less. It isn't just a matter of avoiding "the fiscal cliff," as Bernanke warned. We need far more government spending.

The closest Bernanke could come to saying this was by expressing polite concern about fiscal "headwinds." As he put it: "Notwithstanding some recent improvement in tax revenues, state and local governments still face tight budget situations and continue to cut real spending and employment."

Translation: government should not be cutting back in a deep recession; it should be making up for the shortfall in private purchasing power.

In the 1930s, when the United States faced a far deeper depression, we built the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the George Washington Bridge and the first modern highway systems; we constructed and renovated thousands of public schools, fire stations and post offices; planted a billion trees; laid 20,000 miles of water mains; electrified rural America and undertook countless other public works projects. And when the early projects were not sufficient to end the Great Depression, we doubled down.

This time around, President Obama in February 2009 persuaded Congress to enact a $787 billion stimulus program that his own advisers considered inadequate, but one that did a lot of good -- for two years. Then nearly all of the stimulus spending petered out. Of the total, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that $718 billion was spent by 2011. And by 2011, of course, Republicans controlled the House so no further stimulus was politically possible.

Today, there is so much public infrastructure in disarray, such a crying need to move the nation to a sustainable energy path, and so great a need for the jobs that could be created by large-scale public investments that more stimulus spending should be a no-brainer. But this alternative is not even being seriously debated. Rather Democratic paths to deficit reduction are jousting with Republican paths.

So here is Ben Bernanke -- a Republican, first appointed by George W. Bush, a huge admirer of Milton Friedman -- saying what no other Republican and too few Democrats are willing to say: The problem is not the deficit, but the risk that Congress will overreact to the deficit.

The problem is not that some undeserving soul might get too much mortgage relief, but that government housing policies are too feeble and the undertow of a collapsed housing sector is sinking the recovery. And even with 4 percent mortgages, brought to you courtesy of the Fed's cheap money policy, the housing crisis isn't solving itself.

Bernanke doesn't walk on water. He was far too slow to embrace drastic reform of America's banking system. Still, it is quite a moment in America's economic debate when one of the most progressive figures on monetary and fiscal policy is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos. His latest book is A Presidency in Peril.

Frank Vogl: Building a World of Greater Freedom and Less Violence, Mr. Romney

Speaking to the Republican Party Convention, Mitt Romney said, "A free world is a more peaceful world." He provided no explanation. In fact, there is a lot of evidence to support his assertion.

Where there is scant freedom, there is also abundant violence and rampant governmental corruption. Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, consistently trail in the global rankings of freedom by Freedom House, of perceived corruption by Transparency International, and in the Global Peace Index published by the Vision of Humanity organization.

Mr. Romney has failed to provide how he will promote greater freedom across the world, while Condoleezza Rice, speaking to the Convention in Tampa, ridiculed the Obama Administration for failing to provide leadership. In fact, President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have taken a courageous stand in supporting civil society campaigners in very difficult, autocratic countries, to the anger of the host governments.

Indeed, there was no mention in prominent speeches at the Republican Convention of the Arab Spring -- a seminal event that inspired public protests in dozens of countries. Tens of thousands of Tunisians and Egyptians started it, overcoming their fears of vicious state security forces, to denounce their illegitimate governments. Their courage has given anti-corruption, pro-democracy campaigns unprecedented momentum in many parts of the world.

Supporting this momentum is vital. When it comes to backing civil society's ability to speak truth to power, the Obama administration has displayed vital leadership. The president set the tone and the strategy early in his administration when on a visit to Moscow in July 2009, he attended a high-profile meeting of civil society leaders.

Typical of the leadership, for example, was a meeting with international civil society groups that Secretary Clinton had in Krakow, Poland in mid-2010, where she stressed, "For the United States supporting civil society groups is a critical part of our work to advance democracy." And, on the same overseas trip a few days later in Yerevan, Armenia, she told another group of civil society activists that, "Democracy requires not just elections, but open dialogue, a free exchange of ideas, government transparency and accountability, and above all, an empowered citizenry, who constantly work together to make their country fairer, juster, healthier and freer."

The rising energy behind many civil society campaigns for justice and personal freedom owe an enormous amount to the efforts of rising numbers of activists, investigative journalists, public prosecutors and swelling ranks of academics in dozens of countries. They have been raising public awareness of corruption, building networks to pool research and ideas, and exploiting the full potential of social media, to encourage protest and reform. U.S. support for those leading campaigns for democracy and against corruption is important.

Too often we fail to fully recognize the courage of those on the front lines. In 2000, as the Vice Chairman of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption non-governmental organization, I had the honor to present our annual integrity award to investigative reporter Lasantha Wickrematunge of Sri Lanka. On Jan. 8, 2009, he was gunned down when driving to work. He was 52. His last article, penned the day before his death, was titled, "And Then They Came For Me."

Lasantha had consistently investigated and reported on government corruption. His friend, J.C. Weilamuna, who has faced kidnapping, death threats and office bombings, heads Transparency International, Sir Lanka. He knows the dangers, yet he and his team of colleagues persevere convinced that their efforts will secure rising public support and contribute to both freedom and peace in his country.

I believe that in a rising number of countries today we are at a tipping point where bribe-takers and bribe-payers have ever fewer places to hide, where the prospects of sustainable reforms to curb corruption are improving significantly, and where the skeptics can now be sent packing. Yes, huge challenges remain and none are greater than sustaining civil society movements in many countries, from Russia to Egypt, where democracy and personal freedom are under serious threat; and in countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Venezuela, where activists are under daily threat.

The Obama administration has understood how important it is for the U.S. to support civil society, despite risks to government relationships. At stake is the prospect -- now more real in many countries than ever before -- of reducing barriers to freedom and creating less violent societies. Mr. Romney was right to connect freedom and peace; now he needs to show that he will follow the Obama example, if elected, and boldly support civil society led movements for freedom and against corruption.

Follow Frank Vogl on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frankvogl@gmail

WATCH: MSNBC Host's Epic Smackdown Of Guest

Melissa Harris-Perry had what was probably her most passionate and intense television outburst ever when she delivered a fiery monologue about being poor in America on her Saturday show.

The moment occurred during a long segment on what Harris-Perry felt was the demonization of welfare recipients as "undeserving" of aid. She clashed repeatedly with guest Monica Mehta, labeled by the show as a business and finance expert.

Harris-Perry's frustration with Mehta rose perceptibly when Mehta said that welfare payments should not be "limitless."

"Limitless?!" Harris-Perry shot back. "The limits currently ... established under a Democratic president are appalling."

A few minutes later, Harris-Perry, referring to the debate about welfare recipients "deserving" aid, said, "I just feel like, from the bottom, you have to be able to say, 'I deserve the ability for class mobility.'"

"Which is funded by public education, by low-cost health care," guest Nancy Giles said. "Which is enabled by taking risks," Mehta cut in.

Slamming her hands down on her desk, Harris-Perry exploded:

'What is riskier than living poor in America? Seriously, what in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America? I live in a neighborhood where people are shot on my street corner. I live in a neighborhood where people have to figure out how to get their kid into school because maybe it'll be a good school and maybe it won't. I am sick of the idea that being wealthy is risky. No! There is a huge safety net that whenever you fail will catch you and catch you and catch you. Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people. And when we won't, because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness! We cannot do that!"

Later, Harris-Perry said she was sorry for "losing my temper," adding that it had been a "hard week" for her. Among other things, the home she was going to rebuild in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Isaac.

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  NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 01: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Kathy Lee Gifford and Frank Gifford attend the New York Giants Super Bowl Pep Rally Luncheon at Michael's on February 1, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for New York Giants)

• Tamron Hall

  WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: MSNBC News Anchor Tamron Hall attends the MSNBC Correspondents' after party with FIJI Water at Embassy of Italy on April 30, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

• David Gregory

  ATLANTA, GA - MAY 07: NBC's Meet the Press Host David Gregory attends NBC News Education Nation Job One Panel Discussion at Georgia Aquarium on May 7, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Moses Robinson/Getty Images for NBCUniversal)

• Tom Brokaw

  NEW YORK, NY - MAY 07: Television Journalist Tom Brokaw speaks at the Robin Hood Veterans Summit at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on May 7, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The Robin Hood Foundation)

• Luke Russert

  NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 12: News correspondent Luke Russert attends the 'TODAY' Show 60th anniversary celebration at The Edison Ballroom on January 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

• Andrea Mitchell

  WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: Andrea Mitchell attends the MSNBC Correspondents' after party with FIJI Water at Embassy of Italy on April 30, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

• Richard Engel

  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 4: (AFP OUT) In this television screen grab taken and provided by NBC, NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel speaks via satellite from to Sderot, Israel to host David Gregory during a live taping of 'Meet the Press' at the NBC studios on January 4, 2009 in Washington, DC. Engel discussed the current Israel Gaza Conflict which is now in its ninth day. (Photo by NBC/Meet the Press via Getty Images)

• Peter Alexander

  NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 05: Jopurnalist Peter Alexander attends 'A Funny Affair for Autism' at The Plaza Hotel on December 5, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Hider/Getty Images for Autism Speaks)

• Chuck Todd

  WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 09: Chuck Todd, NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director Contributing Editor to Meet the Press, attends 'A Night At The Park' to benefit the ziMS Foundation hosted by Ryan Zimmerman at Nationals Park on August 9, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for ziMS Foundation)

• Kate Snow

  NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 09: Kate Snow attends 2011 Stand Up for Heroes at the Beacon Theatre on November 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Donna Ward/Getty Images)

• Harry Smith

  NEW YORK - MARCH 02: Co-anchor for the CBS News morning show Harry Smith on-set at the 45th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards Nominations at CBS Early Show Studio Plaza on March 2, 2010 in New York, New York. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for ACM)

• Martin Bashir

  NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 10: Correspondent Martin Bashir attends the 'Veep' screening at the Time Warner Screening Room on April 10, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

• Bob Costas

  PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 02: NBC Sportscaster Bob Costas looks on during the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park on January 2, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

• Jenna Wolfe

  NEW YORK - AUGUST 17: Media correspondent Jenna Wolfe attends the New York premiere of 'Nanny McPhee Returns' at AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 on August 17, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

• Willard Scott

  NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 12: Former 'TODAY' Show correspondent Willard Scott attends the 'TODAY' Show 60th anniversary celebration at The Edison Ballroom on January 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

• Mark Hoffman, Duncan Niederauer, Carl Quintanilla, Melissa Lee, Maria Bartiromo

• Bob Dotson

• Star Jones

  NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 28: TV personality Star Jones attends the American Heart Association's 2012 New York City Go Red for Women luncheon at the Hilton New York on February 28, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

• Donny Deutsch

  NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 09: Television personality Donny Deutsch attends Love Heals, The Alison Gertz Foundation For AIDS Education 20th Anniversary gala at the Four Seasons Restaurant on November 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

WATCH: Melissa Harris-Perry Erupts At Guest

Melissa Harris-Perry erupted at a guest on her show Saturday morning during a discussion on welfare.

Harris-Perry launched a discussion based on a new book titled "Why Americans Hate Welfare" by Princeton professor Martin Gilens.

According to Harris-Perry, the book examines public opinion surveys that found that Americans approve "spending for the social good," but oppose that spending when it's labeled as welfare.

Harris-Perry wondered how this could be the case. "The answer, according to Gilens...[is] that Americans hate welfare because media, at the behest of conservative politicians, have relentlessly linked welfare with black people, and have hammered home the idea that welfare recipients are undeserving."

Harris-Perry contrasted this theory with Mitt Romney's GOP convention speech on Thursday, in which the Republican presidential candidate said that Americans deserve better.

"It does feel to me [that] part of the American story is class mobility. If there is no class mobility, we are not America, right?..And data now shows that in our current moment, class mobility is very low," Harris-Perry said. "I just feel like, from the bottom, you have to be able to say, 'I deserve the ability for class mobility.'"

Financial expert Monica Mehta, who was a guest on Harris-Perry's show, interjected that class mobility is "enabled by taking risk."

Harris-Perry immediately interrupted her and demanded, "What is riskier than living poor in America? Seriously?" After slamming her hand on the table, she continued:

What in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America? I live in a neighborhood where people are shot on my street corner. I live in a neighborhood where people have to figure out how to get their kid into school because maybe it will be a good school and maybe it won't. I'm sick of the idea that being wealthy is risky. No, there's a huge safety net, that whenever you fail, we'll catch you, and catch you, and catch you. Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people and when we won't because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness. We cannot do that.

During last week's program, Melissa Harris-Perry gave viewers an inside look into her New Orleans neighborhood. Last month, Harris-Perry and her husband closed on the purchase of a home that had been damaged and abandoned after Hurricane Katrina.

Harris-Perry described the property as a site of crime in her neighborhood, so her goal was to rebuild the home and contribute to the safety and security of the community. Harris-Perry called the home "just a physical thing" but also a "symbol of hope."

Just a few days after the segment aired on her MSNBC show, Harris-Perry's new home was destroyed by Hurricane Isaac. "House was vacant except for my dreams," she tweeted.

Watch the clash in the clip above, which comes at roughly 8 minutes into the video.

Also on HuffPost:

• 6-9 AM: Morning Joe

• 9-10 AM: The Daily Rundown

• 10 AM-11 AM: Jansing And Co.

• 11 AM-12 AM: Thomas Roberts

• 12 PM-1 PM: Alex Wagner

• 1-2 PM: Andrea Mitchell

• 2-3 PM: NewsNation

• 3-4 PM: The Cycle

• 4-5 PM: Martin Bashir

• 5-6 PM: Hardball with Chris Matthews

• 6-7 PM: PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton

• 7-8 PM: Hardball

• 8-9 PM: The Ed Show

• 9-10 PM: Rachel Maddow

• 10-11 PM: The Last Word

• Weekends with Alex Witt

  7-8 AM (Sat.)/12-2 PM (Sun.): Weekends With Alex Witt

• Up with Chris Hayes

  8-10 AM (Sat./Sun.): Up with Chris Hayes

• Melissa Harris-Perry

  10 AM -12 PM (Sat./Sun.): Melissa Harris-Perry

Mitt Romney To Flood Victim: 'Go Home And Call 211'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney launched the final leg of his quest for the White House by visiting storm-battered Louisiana on Friday. He drove through a town that was flooded by Hurricane Isaac in part because it's still outside the vast flooding protection system built with federal funds after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) spent close to an hour meeting with first responders and local officials. Romney shook hands with National Guardsmen outside the U.S. Post Office and talked with a local resident, Jodie Chiarello, 42, who lost her home in Isaac's flooding.

"He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211." That's a public service number offered in many states.

Chiarello said she will likely seek some other shelter because her home was submerged in the flooding. She expressed frustration about the town's lack of flood protection.

"We live outside the levee protection that's why we get all this water because they close the floodgates up front and all they're doing is flooding us out down here," she said. "It's very frustrating, very. We go through Katrina and Rita and now we're going through Cindy, Lee and now Isaac."

Romney's last-minute visit, announced less than 12 hours after he became the Republican nominee, took him to the disaster area ahead of his Democratic rival, President Barack Obama. The president was following with his own visit to Louisiana on Monday, the White House announced.

Romney went at Jindal's invitation, his campaign said. Jindal, a Republican, told reporters Romney had been in touch several days ago to ask how he could help with storm relief and Jindal suggested Romney come down and see the damage for himself. He said he had extended an invitation to Obama as well.

Also on HuffPost:

• SEC Filings List Romney As 'Chief Executive Officer'

  According to the <em><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/07/12/government_documents_indicate_mitt_romney_continued_at_bain_after_date_when_he_says_he_left/" target="_hplink"><em>Boston Globe</em></a></em>, Securites and Exchange Commission documents filed by Bain Capital after February 1999 list Romney as the private equity firm's "stole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president."

• $100,000+ Salary

  The <em><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/07/12/government_documents_indicate_mitt_romney_continued_at_bain_after_date_when_he_says_he_left/" target="_hplink">Globe</a></em> also found financial disclosure forms filed by Romney that indicate he still owned 100 percent of Bain in 2002, and earned at least $100,000 as an "executive" for the firm in 2001 and 2002.

• 2002 Testimony

  As <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt-romney-bain-departure_n_1669006.html?utm_hp_ref=politics" target="_hplink">The Huffington Post</a> reported, sworn testimony given by Romney in 2002 undermined his claims that he left Bain in 1999. In that testimony, given as part of a hearing to determine if he had sufficient Massachusetts residency to run for governor, Romney said that he "remained on the board" of the LifeLike Co., which Bain held a stake in at the time. LifeLike's 2000 <a href="http://www.sos.state.co.us/biz/ViewImage.do?fileId=20001165127&masterFileId=19961077091" target="_hplink">corporate filing</a>, filed with the state of Colorado, lists Romney as a director.

• More SEC Filings

  HuffPost's Jason Cherkis and Ryan Grim identified at least <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/mitt-romney-bain-sec_n_1671819.html" target="_hplink">six documents</a> filed by Bain Capital with the SEC from 1999 to 2001 that were signed by Mitt Romney. Most of the documents refer to Romney as the "reporting person."

• 'Managing Member' In 2002

  HuffPost <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/15/mitt-romney-bain-capital_n_1674209.html?utm_hp_ref=politics" target="_hplink">reported</a> on a 2002 corporate document filed with the state of Massachusetts that shows Romney listed as one of two managing members of Bain Capital Investors, an entity of the private equity firm.

• Signed Documents After 1999

  Romney signed an SEC filing in November 1999 pursuant to Bain's partial acquisition of medical-waste firm Stericycle, <em><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mitt-romney-bain-financial-disclosure" target="_hplink">Mother Jones</a></em> reported. The filing noted that he was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President" of the Bain entities involved in the $75 million deal.

• 2001 & 2002 SEC Filings

  <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/07/no_romney_didnt_leave_bain_in_1999.php" target="_hplink">Talking Points Memo</a> uncovered two SEC filings from July 2000 and February 2001. In both, Romney lists his "principal occupation" as "Managing Director of Bain Capital, Inc."

• 1999 News Reports

  As Slate's <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/13/did_the_romney_campaign_create_the_swift_yachting_story_.html" target="_hplink">Dave Weigel</a> pointed out, Romney's campaign has cited news reports from 1999 that clearly state that Romney left Bain in 1999. However, those same news reports state that Romney would still be involved with the company. "Romney said he will stay on as a part-timer with Bain, providing input on investment and key personnel decisions," read one such report from the <em>Boston Herald</em>

• Former Partner Speaks Out

  A former Bain Capital partner, Ed Conard, said during an appearance on MSNBC's "<a href="http://upwithchrishayes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/15/12751962-former-bain-capital-partner-says-romney-was-legally-ceo-of-bain-capital-until-2002" target="_hplink">Up W/Chris Hayes</a>" that Romney was "legally" the CEO and sole owner of Bain Capital until 2002, as an ownership battle dragged on after Romney left to take over the Salt Lake City Olympics. "We had a very complicated set of negotiations that took us about two years for us to unwind. During that time a management committee ran the firm, and we could hardly get Mitt to come back to negotiate the terms of his departure because he was working so hard on the Olympics," Conard said.

• Relationships With Problematic Companies

  HuffPost's Sam Stein <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/mitt-romney-bain-capital_n_1677133.html" target="_hplink">reported</a> that SEC filings link Romney to politically problematic companies after his alleged 1999 departure from Bain: <blockquote>A Huffington Post review of SEC files unearthed six separate occasions in which Romney was listed as a member of "the Management Committee" of both Bain Capital Investment Partners and BCIP Trust, "deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" shares held of DDi. In one of those filings, Romney is listed as president and managing director of Bain Capital, Inc. The dates of those filings range from April 14, 2000 to May 10, 2001 -- all after Romney had left for Salt Lake City. In one March 2001 filing, Romney signed the document as the "reporting person."</blockquote>

• 'General Partner'

  According at a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/mitt-romney-bain_n_1677259.html" target="_hplink">document</a> filed with the California Secretary of State's office in July 1999, Romney was listed as a "general partner" at Bain Capital Partners. Romney's signature appears on the document. Romney remained on record as a general partner until California was notified of his resignation in June 2003.

Feds Close Investigation Of Sheriff Joe Arpaio; No Charges Filed

PHOENIX ' Federal authorities said Friday that they're closing their abuse-of-power investigation into Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona without filing charges against him.

Authorities were investigating America's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff for his part in failed public corruption cases against officials who were odds with him. Arpaio brought cases against a judge and two county officials in 2009.

Federal authorities also decided to not prosecute matters tied to alleged misuse of county credit cards by sheriff's officials, alleged misspending of jail-enhancement funds and other matters.

"They did their investigation, they didn't find enough probable cause and they didn't bring an indictment," Arpaio said at a hastily called news conference after returning from the Republican National Convention in Florida. "We don't go around framing anybody. My people are not crooks."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Birmingham Scheel released a statement saying her office "is closing its investigation into allegations of criminal conduct" by current and former members of the sheriff's and county attorney's offices.

Scheel, who is based in Arizona, said she was acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice. In a four-page letter to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery explaining the decision, Scheel wrote that "our limited role is to determine whether criminal charges are supportable. After careful review, we do not believe the allegations presented to us are prosecutable as crimes."

"I've been in law enforcement for 50 years. Nothing surprises me. But I know my people did the right thing," said the 80-year-old Arpaio, who is running for a sixth term as sheriff in Arizona's most populous county. "I'm just happy for my organization, for my deputies. Not for me."

The federal probe focused specifically on the sheriff's anti-public-corruption squad. In a separate probe, the U.S. Justice Department has accused Arpaio's office of a wide range of civil rights violations, and in another case, a federal judge has yet to rule in a civil case brought by a group of Latino plaintiffs that claimed Arpaio and his deputies engaged in racial profiling.

The timing of the federal authorities' announcement ' at 5 p.m. on a Friday before a holiday weekend ' was questioned by some Arpaio critics.

"It is a miscarriage of justice that the federal government is dropping its case against Sheriff Arpaio and to make such an announcement on the Friday night before the Democratic National Convention can only be politically motivated to shield the administration from criticism," Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a statement.

Arpaio and his top ally, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, were embroiled in a three-year feud with county officials and judges and defended their investigations as necessary to root out corruption.

The officials who were targets of the investigations contend the probes were trumped up as retaliation for political and legal disagreements with the sheriff and prosecutor.

Criminal cases against former Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe and county supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox and Don Stapley were dismissed after a judge ruled that Thomas prosecuted one of the three officials for political gain and had a conflict of interest in pressing the case.

Authorities say the charges against Donahoe were filed in a bid to prevent the judge from holding a hearing regarding Arpaio and Thomas' claim that judges and county officials conspired to hinder a probe into the construction of a court building.

Donahoe had disqualified Thomas from handling the court building investigation and was poised to hold another hearing over a request to appoint special prosecutors to handle the probe. The hearing was called off after the charges were filed against the judge.

The judge also had been critical of the ability of Arpaio's office to bring inmates to court on time for hearings.

Thomas was disbarred in early April by an ethics panel of the Arizona courts that found he brought unsuccessful criminal cases against the judge and two county officials for the purpose of embarrassing them.

In the separate probe, which is still ongoing, the Justice Department says Arpaio's office racially profiles Latinos, retaliates against critics of its immigration patrols and bases its immigration patrols on racially charged citizen complaints that did not allege crimes. The sheriff denies the allegations.

And in the civil case, the Latino plaintiffs aren't seeking monetary damages. Instead, they want a declaration that Arpaio's office uses racial profiling and an order requiring policy changes. If Arpaio loses the case, he won't face jail time or fines.

Earlier on HuffPost:

• Maricopa County Employees Call Latinos Derogatory Names

  Jail employees frequently refer to Latinos as "wetbacks," "Mexican bitches," and "stupid Mexicans," according to the lawsuit. An email that included a photography of a Chihahua dressed in swimming gear with the caption "A Rare Photo of a Mexican Navy Seal" was widely distributed by sheriff's office supervisors.

• Officers Mistreat Latinos In Routine Traffic Enforcement

  The lawsuit recounts how a Latina woman who was five-months pregnant and a U.S. citizen was stopped as she pulled into the driveway. "After she exited her car, the officer then insisted that she sit on the hood of the car. When she refused, the officer grabbed her arms, puled them behind her back, and slammed her, stomach first, into the vehicle three times. He then dragged her to the patrol car and shoved her into the backseat," reads the complaint. She was cited for failure to provide identification, which was later changed to failure to provide proof of insurance. The issue was resolved when the woman proved she had insurance to a court. In yet another case, two officers followed a Latina U.S. citizen a quarter of a mile to her home without flashing their lights. When she arrived home, they insisted that she stay in the car. The reason for the stop was a "non-functioning license plate light." After she tried to enter her home, officers took her to the ground, kneed her in the back and handcuffed her. She was brought to a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) substation and cited for "disorderly conduct," which was later dismissed, according to the lawsuit.

• Latinos Are Indiscriminately Detained In Immigration Raids

  A Latina born in the United States was taken into custody for four hours in a raid to determine her immigration status. Arpaio was quoted in response, "That's just normal police work. You sometimes take people in for probable cause for questioning and they're released." The suit notes that the reason for her detainment -- being Latina and present during a raid -- were insufficient.

• Arpaio And MCSO Staff Foster Discrimination Against Latinos

  Arpaio received a letter reading, "If you have dark skin, then you have dark skin. Unfortunately, that is the look of the Mexican illegals who are here illegally. ... I'm begging you to come over ... and round them all up." The sheriff labeled this as "intelligence" and forwarded to his deputy chief of enforcement operations for someone to "handle this." Upon receiving a letter backing the policy of "stopping Mexicans to make sure they are legal," he sent a letter of appreciation to the authors and kept three copies for himself, according to the lawsuit. An email circulated among MCSO staff had an image of a fake driver's license from "Mexifornia" and listed the driver's class as "illegal alien."

• MCSO Employees Fail To Provide Assistance To Prisoners With Limited English

  The failure to provide adequate language assistance caused some female Latina prisoners to remain with sheets or pants soiled from menstruation, alleges the suit. Others have allegedly been put in solitary confinement for "extended periods of time" for not understanding a command in English.

• MCSO Arrests Arpaio Critics Expressing Their First Amendment Rights

  The suit claims on multiple occasions that people were arrested for merely applauding against the office's immigration policies. The judge presiding over the case of the arrestees found that the deputy who made the arrest "believes it is his role to make uncomfortable anyone who express[es] views that disagree with the sheriff" and that he had "trampled" over the First Amendment. The court acquitted them.