Newspaper faces firestorm after attempted crack-down on anti-gay marriage op-eds

A Pennsylvania newspaper is facing a firestorm of criticism after the editorial board said it would "very strictly limit" op-eds and letters against same-sex marriage on the heels of Friday's historic Supreme Court ruling.
PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg has issued a string of statements on its opinion page policies since the ruling -- which legalized gay marriage nationwide -- and by Saturday morning, appeared to have softened its op-ed restrictions on the subject.
But the newspaper initially took a hard-line stance. Editorial Page Editor John Micek tweeted shortly after the ruling that the newspaper would "no longer accept" or print op-eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage.
He then tweeted:

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• How gay marriage ruling will impact America

The editorial board then began to dial back, in the face of apparent criticism from readers.
A newspaper editorial published online was updated Friday afternoon to clarify the board's op-ed policy. In the editorial, which cheered the decision and said majority opinion author Justice Anthony Kennedy "nailed it," the board issued the following statement:
"As a result of Friday's ruling, PennLive/The Patriot-News will very strictly limit op-Eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage.
"These unions are now the law of the land. And we will not publish such letters and op-Eds any more than we would publish those that are racist, sexist or anti-Semitic.
"We will, however, for a limited time, accept letters and op-Eds on the high court's decision and its legal merits."
Micek also tweeted:
This apparently did not satisfy readers, who posted a cascade of critical comments online. One read: "Clearly, PennLive's policy is not to limit criticism of settled law, but rather to limit criticism of settled law that its editors like."
Saying he had been inundated with critical emails and phone calls, Micek then apologized in a column on Saturday morning -- saying they had made a "very genuine attempt at fostering a civil discussion" but recognize that "there are people of good conscience and of goodwill who will disagree with Friday's high court ruling."
He wrote: "They are, and always will be, welcome in these pages, along with all others of goodwill, who seek to have an intelligent and reasoned debate on the issues of the day. These pages, I remind myself finally, belong to the people of Central Pennsylvania. I'm a conduit, I recognize, for them to share their views and to have the arguments that make us better as a people. And all views are -- and always will be -- welcome."
Micek stressed that nobody at the newspaper is an opponent of the First Amendment. But he stressed that a civil debate is important, and the opinion page would draw the line when it comes to offensive speech.
"More than once yesterday I was referred to as 'f****t-lover,' among other slurs," he wrote. "And that's the point that I was trying to make with our statement: We will not publish such slurs any more than we would publish racist, sexist or anti-Semitic speech. There are ways to intelligently discuss an issue. The use of playground insults is not among them. And they are not welcome at PennLive/The Patriot-News."

Webb close to 2016 decision, insiders say Clinton camp helped delay launch

CLINTON, Iowa –  Jim Webb was supposed to declare he was running for president Friday night. At least that's what the prevailing belief was inside his campaign.
Webb was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Clinton County Democratic Hall Of Fame dinner in Clinton, Iowa. While the timing was bad (Friday night, where news goes to die), insiders said Webb thought it would be a good place to drop the hammer on a presidential run.
Enter the Clinton campaign, which Webb confidantes grumble has been sandbagging them at every turn. They convinced the Clinton County Democratic Party to add Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to the speakers roster. The intention was for her to give a spirited sales pitch for Hillary at the very same place and time Webb would launch his campaign.
For Webb, insiders say, that, plus the fact that a Friday night launch could have gotten lost in the news cycle, was enough to convince him to delay the announcement.
Until when, only Webb knows.
Fox News caught up with Webb before the dinner, after a three-hour drive from Chicago which he described as "long." He wasn't giving up anything on the Clinton campaign stealing his thunder. To do so would be to admit there was thunder in the first place, which candidates are loath to do until the words "I'm running for president" actually come out of their mouth. But he did allow that he is getting close to pulling the trigger.
"We're pretty close to being done ... that's the best thing I can say, really," Webb said.
It was typical understatement from a guy who plays his cards so close to the vest that even his closest advisers are left to do a lot of tea-leaf reading. But Webb himself has said he would make a decision sometime around the end of June, so "close to being done" could be read as "imminent."
And it became clear Friday night that Webb's campaign will be one of 'themes' and not specific policy proposals. Go to the "issues" section of his website and one can find his positions on the complex problems facing the nation summed up in a single paragraph.
Ask him about specifics on, for example, what he would do to grow the economy and he begins to bristle.
"I don't think that the issue right now for me is to bring in some sort of a specific set of numbers that I would pull out of the air," Webb told Fox News. "The issue is to lay down the themes that we would govern on and then to bring good people in."
That's the Webb formula -- one he employed successfully as a senator from Virginia. Take a problem, gather together the brightest minds you can find, examine it from every angle, then chart a course to fix it. It doesn't fit into a convenient sound bite, nor does it give the level of detail that politically savvy voters in Iowa and New Hampshire want to chew over. But it is classic Webb style.
"The most important thing a leader can do is to reach out and get good people -- the best minds in the country to come together and figure out solutions -- to give a vision of where you want the country to go," Webb told Fox News.
Webb has a reputation for meticulously thinking through every issue with the perseverance of an academic before rendering an opinion -- as he did earlier this week with a Facebook posting about the Confederate flag. Webb decreed that the issue was "complicated" and that any discussion about the flag needed to recognize that the majority of soldiers who fought for the South did not own slaves and that the nation needs "to respect good people who fought on both sides."
Many of Webb's most ardent fans saw it as a defense of a flag that has come to symbolize racism and vigorously disagreed with him.
"The Confederate battle flag was a battle flag," Webb told Fox News. "It was misused particularly during the civil rights era as a racist and political symbol.  And I am fine with it coming down from public fora. At the same time, let's remember our history and let's not turn the acts of people who fought on either side in the Civil War into something they were not."
The nuance Webb expresses is a departure for most presidential candidates who speak in short, declarative sentences. Between his thought processes and his background in the military, politics and private sector, he has been described as a person who has the potential to be 'the most interesting candidate in the race.' Certainly, voters who spend time with him come away with a favorable opinion. But the big question -- can Webb take on the juggernaut that is the Hillary Clinton campaign?
Webb is confident.
"If I didn't think it was possible, I would not do it," Webb told Fox News.
Webb points to his Senate race, when he beat incumbent George Allen in Virginia. Webb was 33 points behind nine months before the race and managed to win. Of course, it helped that Allen imploded over his now-infamous "macaca" comments.
Can lightning strike twice? Could Hillary falter? Talk to Democratic voters in Iowa and many will tell you they are open to an alternative.
"We don't do coronations here, we do discussions," said Dr. Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
Even if Webb has no chance to become the nominee, his entry into the race would certainly add new energy to the debate, though voters may be hungry for a little more detail than Webb is presently willing to provide.

Surviving escaped prisoner likely fatigued and prone to mistakes, police say

Police searching for the second of two escaped prisoners who pulled off an elaborate breakout from a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago say that the remaining escapee is fatigued and likely to make a mistake after law enforcement officers shot and killed his accomplice Friday.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers have converged on a wooded area 30 miles from the Clinton Correctional Facility with helicopters and search dogs, where David Sweat is believed to be hiding. Sweat and fellow escapee Richard Matt escaped from the maximum-security prison in Dannemora about three weeks ago.
Matt was shot Friday afternoon after an encounter with border patrol agents.
About 1,200 searchers focused intensely on 22 square miles Saturday encompassing thick forests and heavy brush around where Matt was killed.
Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill told Fox News that police are very motivated after Friday's events, while Sweat is likely fatigued, increasing the chances he will slip up.
"He's been out of prison for three weeks. He's been on the run for three weeks," Mulverhill said. "He's in this area, he's now lost his cellmate, his escapemate is gone, he's alone."
"If he's in this perimeter, we're pushing him we're moving him around," Mulverhill said.  He's tired, he's going to make a mistake."
Sweat also could have an even tougher time now without someone to take turns resting with and watch his back, said Clinton County Sheriff David Favro.
"Now it's a one-man show and it makes it more difficult for him," Favro said. "And I'm sure fatigue is setting in for him as well, knowing the guy he was with has already been shot."
Authorities said Matt was shot by a border patrol agent when he failed to comply with orders in the woods near a cabin where a shot had been fired earlier in the day at a camping trailer. A 20-gauge shotgun was found on Matt, though he didn’t fire it at officers, authorities said.
"They verbally challenged him, told him to put up his hands. And at that time, he was shot when he didn't comply," New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said at a news conference late Friday.
The breakthrough came Friday shortly before 2 p.m., when a person towing a camper head a loud sound and thought a tire had blown out. Finding the tire intact, the driver drove another eight miles before discovering a bullet hole.
Authorities converged on the location where the sound was heard and discovered the smell of gunfire inside a cabin. D’Amico said there was also evidence someone had fled out the back door.
A noise -- perhaps a cough -- ultimately did Matt in. A border patrol team discovered Matt, who was shot after failing to heed a command to raise his hands.
"As we were doing the ground search in the area, there was movement detected by officers on the ground, what they believed to be coughs. So they knew that they were dealing with humans as opposed to wildlife," he said.
"We have a lot of people in the area. We have canines and we have a decent perimeter set up and we're searching for Sweat at this time," he said.
The pair escaped the prison together on June 6. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called them “dangerous, dangerous men.”
Police blocked off all roads as officers hunted for Sweat in an area around Titusville Mountain State Forest in Malone, spanning 22 square miles.
Mitch Johnson said one of his best friends checked on his hunting cabin in Malone Friday afternoon and called police after noticing the scent of grape flavored gin as soon as he stepped into his cabin and spotting the bottle that had gone untouched for years resting on a kitchen table.
Johnson said his friend, correction officer Bob Willett, told him he summoned police about an hour before Matt was fatally shot and then heard a flurry of gun blasts.
Matt and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, and squirmed through pipes to escape.
Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss.
A civilian worker at the prison has been charged with helping the killers flee by giving them hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools.
Prosecutors said Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailoring shop instructor who got close to the men while working with them, had agreed to be their getaway driver but backed out because she felt guilty for participating. Mitchell pleaded not guilty June 15 to charges including felony promoting prison contraband.
Authorities said the men had filled their beds in their adjacent cells with clothes to make it appear they were sleeping when guards made overnight rounds. On a cut steam pipe, the prisoners left a taunting note containing a crude caricature of an Asian face and the words "Have a nice day."
Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said they apparently used tools stored by prison contractors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes after each night's work.
On June 24, authorities charged Clinton correction officer Gene Palmer with promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. Officials said he gave the two prisoners the frozen hamburger meat Joyce Mitchell had used to hide the tools she smuggled to Sweat and Matt. Palmer's attorney said he had no knowledge that the meat contained hacksaw blades, a bit and a screwdriver.
Dannemora, built in 1845, occupies just over 1 square mile within the northern reaches of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and is surrounded by forest and farmland. The stark white perimeter wall of the prison, topped with guard towers, borders a main street in the village's business district.
The escape was the first in history from Clinton Correctional's maximum-security portion. In July 2003, two convicted murderers used tools from a carpentry shop at Elmira Correctional Facility to dig a hole in the roof of their cell and a rope of bedsheets to go over the wall. They were captured within three days, and a subsequent state investigation cited lax inmate supervision, poor tool control and incomplete cell searches.

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Confederacy purge builds steam, while last century's worst villains spared

All symbols of the Confederacy are rapidly disappearing from stores, websites and the public square in the wake of last week's racially charged shooting in a Charleston, S.C., church, but the purge of some allegedly hateful icons has spared memorabilia linked to some of history's most infamous mass murderers, some critics are charging.
Amazon.com has now banned all Confederate battle flag items from being sold on its site, but the massive e-commerce site continues to allow the sale of dozens of apparel items featuring communist mass murderers such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Che Guevara, prompting some to accuse the site and others banning Confederate imagery of hypocrisy.

“If Amazon is removing the Confederate flag from its offerings, the logical and principled decision is to stop selling any promotional material, including T-shirts, of Che Guevara or any mass killer."
- Maria Werlau, Free Society Project.

“If Amazon is removing the Confederate flag from its offerings, the logical and principled decision is to stop selling any promotional material, including T-shirts, of Che Guevara or any mass killer,” said Maria Werlau, executive director of the Free Society Project. “It is very painful particularly to the loved ones of Guevara's victims as well as offensive to the Cuban people who continue to suffer repression and abhorrent human rights' abuses by the system he helped create and direct.”
Although Guevara is a popular image on T-shirts, he executed many non-communists in Cuba. At one point he admitted in a speech to communist officials: "We executed many people by firing squad without knowing if they were fully guilty. At times, the Revolution cannot stop to conduct much investigation; it has the obligation to triumph."
Others also take offense to items that idolize communists.
“It's an insult to the more than 100 million people who have been killed… at the hands of communist governments,” Marion Smith, executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, told FoxNews.com.

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Che Guevara memorabilia is popular, despite the former Cuban revolutionary's admitted role in mass murder.

Amazon.com did not respond to a request for comment. Other sites have been accused of similar hypocrisy. Apple Computer has now banned all apps that show a Confederate flag, regardless of the context, but continues to allow dozens of apps that involve the Soviet Union. One Apple app called “15 Soviet” promises in its description to inform users of “the history of one of the greatest states of the century – the USSR.”
There are also public displays of communist leaders on private property around the country. Seattle is home to a 16-foot bronze statue of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. In New York City, a large statue of Lenin looks out over the city from atop a luxury apartment complex.
Smith said such statues are also offensive.

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A 16-foot statue of Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin stands in Seattle's Fremont section.

"If it was a statue of Hitler, it wouldn't be there. It's just another example of the double standard in this country," he said. 
Some defend the statues, saying they are art and not necessarily supportive of communism.
“[The statue] is very controversial and it is that thought provoking spirit that is most enjoyed by [people who live here],” Jessica Vets, executive director of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, where the statue is located, told FoxNews.com.

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Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was a ruthless killer, but no one is banning his image.

“History is less likely to repeat itself with thought-provoking dialog and historical facts,” she added.
In terms of historical facts, how bad were Lenin and the others? Lenin’s brutality is especially clear in an order of his from 1918, in which he directed his subordinates to kill middle-class farmers (derisively called “kulaks”) who opposed communist reforms.
“You need to hang… at least 100 notorious kulaks, the rich, and the bloodsuckers… This needs to be accomplished in such a way that people for hundreds of miles around will see, tremble, know and scream out: let's choke and strangle those blood-sucking kulaks,” he said to his subordinates. 
But Lenin was considered a moderate compared to Joseph Stalin, who ruled shortly after him. Nobody knows how many Stalin killed, but estimates range between 20 and 30 million. One of the worst atrocities happened when Stalin’s government took all the food from parts of Ukraine, letting some 7 million of its citizens starve to death even while the country continued to export food to other parts of the world.
But communist atrocities aside, some say removing the Confederate flag is still a step in the right direction and that it is wrong to make a comparison with communism.
“Amazon is a public company and they want to respond to the public, and public opinion is against the confederate flag,” Nomiki Konst, executive director of The Accountability Project, told FoxNews.com. She also noted that the U.S. generally has not been directly at war with communist countries.
“We didn’t have a real war against communism, but a very large proportion of our population was killed under the Confederate flag," she said. "When the majority of Americans feel personally affected – the companies are being very smart about this.”
Although communism largely died along with the Soviet Union, a 2011 Rasmussen poll found that 11percent of Americans say they think communism works better than the U.S. system. In comparison, a 2011 Pew poll found that only 9 percent of Americans said seeing the Confederate flag made them feel positively. 
Some say the different treatment shows hypocrisy.
“This is further evidence of the liberal crusade against American history,” Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center told FoxNews.com.
“Apple and other liberal tech firms are undermining the traditional support of free speech on the Internet. And the reason they haven't deleted communist items is they don't see those as bad,” he said.

BC distances itself from Donald Trump; Miss USA co-host quits over immigration comments

NBC released a statement distancing itself from GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump over his comments on Mexican immigrants.
"Donald Trump's opinions do not represent those of NBC, and we do not agree with his positions on a number of issues, including his recent comments on immigration," NBC said in a statement.
Miss USA co-host Roselyn Sanchez cited Trump's comments about immigrants as her reason for severing ties with the show.
"Since I heard Trump's speech, as a Latina I felt a lump in my stomach. 'It's got to be a joke,' I thought," the star of the Lifetime series "Devious Maids" told The Associated Press.
Trump's fledgling GOP presidential bid quickly led to business fallout for him, with Univision saying it will drop the Miss USA pageant from its UniMas network and cut all ties with Trump.
The company said Thursday it was canceling its Spanish-language coverage of the pageant July 12. It also has severed its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which produces the Miss USA pageant, because of what it called "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" by Trump, a part owner of Miss Universe.
NBC remained silent about its scheduled coverage of the pageant, which has aired on the network since 2003. Trump is featured on another NBC program, "Celebrity Apprentice."
During his presidential campaign kickoff speech last week, Trump portrayed immigrants from Mexico as "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." He also called for building a wall along the southern border of the U.S. The remarks drew condemnation from the Mexican government as "biased and absurd."
In an interview Thursday, Trump said his criticism was directed against U.S. policymakers, not the Mexican people or government, adding that Univision would be defaulting on its contract if it doesn't air the pageant and he would take legal action.
On Friday, a representative for Trump sent FOX411 a letter the mogul sent Univision president Randy Falco. The letter began, "Please be advised that under no circumstances is any officer or representative of Univision allowed to use Trump National Doral, Miami -- its golf courses or any of its facilities."
He added, " Also, it's too bad you didn't have the courage to call me yourself instead of delegating the task to Beau."
Trump concluded the letter with, "Please congratulate your Mexican Government officials for having made such outstanding trade deals with the United States. However, inform them that should I become President, those days are over. We are bringing jobs back to the U.S. Also, a border will be immediately created, not the laughingstock that currently exists."
"At Univision, we see firsthand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country," said the New York-based Univision Communications Inc.
Trump said Univision is submitting to pressure from Mexican leaders to punish him for positions he voices as a candidate on the campaign trail.
"They don't want me saying that Mexico is killing the United States in trade and killing the United States at the border," Trump said. "Univision is totally laying down for the Mexican government. ... They want to silence Donald Trump. And Donald Trump can't be silenced. ... I have great respect for Mexico and I love the Mexican people, but my loyalty is to the United States."
Univision declined to comment on Trump's remarks. It also has the rights to air the Miss Universe pageant.
In an interview scheduled to air Sunday on Telemundo's "Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart," Trump said that "many bad people are coming in" from Mexico and elsewhere.
"You're going to have terrorists coming through the southern border. There's no question about it," he said.
The host challenged Trump, contending there has been no act of terrorism committed by someone crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
"You don't know that," Trump replied, adding later: "See what happens tomorrow. See what happens in two weeks from now. ... I'm not even talking about terrorists from this region. I'm talking about from the Middle East they can come in. The border is totally open."
Also on Thursday, Chilean actor-producer Cristian de la Fuente, the show's other co-host, had strong words for Trump: "It's a shame that such an important institution as Miss USA is now in the hands of a clown."
Singer-songwriter Ricky Martin also took to Twitter to blast Trump.
"A lot of hatred and ignorance in his heart," he tweeted.
Miss California USA Natasha Martinez was asked about Trump's comments during an interview Thursday on Los Angeles TV station KCAL and said they were "a little bit tough to hear."
"But I know that this opportunity for me as Miss California-USA, and now competing for Miss USA, is a great bridge to kind of represent my community and let the world know that I am a proud Latino-American," she said.
This year's UniMas telecast would have been the first in a five-year contract that Trump said "has no termination rights." Univision's wholly owned Spanish-language UniMas network, founded in 2013, is available in 70 million U.S. homes.

Republicans weigh impeachment for IRS commissioner

House Republicans are considering launching impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen or other agency officials in connection with the destruction of emails potentially tied to the scandal over Tea Party targeting. 
National Review first reported that Republicans are looking at the possibility. A House oversight committee aide confirmed to FoxNews.com that the panel, led by Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, indeed is "looking into it." 
"We haven't come to any conclusions," the source said. 
Speaking with Fox News on Friday, oversight committee member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also appeared to acknowledge the discussions. Asked why lawmakers might consider impeachment articles, Jordan cited Koskinen's questionable committee testimony. 
"Every time Mr. Koskinen comes and testifies, we subsequently learn that something he said wasn't quite accurate," Jordan told Fox News. 
He did not elaborate on the impeachment option. But the development comes as Republicans, including Jordan, fume over the revelation that 422 backup tapes were destroyed shortly after officials discovered emails related to the Tea Party scandal had been lost. 

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• House GOP consider impeaching IRS Commissioner Koskinen

J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, revealed Thursday that up to 24,000 emails may never be recovered because the tapes were "magnetically erased" in March 2014. George said those tapes "likely contained" 2010 and 2011 emails to and from former IRS official Lois Lerner, a central figure in the controversy over conservative groups targeted for additional scrutiny as they sought nonprofit status. 
George said his office found no direct evidence the tapes were destroyed to hide information from Congress or law enforcement. But the destruction nevertheless defied a preservation order -- and Republicans complained that despite the destruction, Koskinen testified to Congress three weeks later that they would provide documents to Congress. 
"Three weeks before he said that ... they'd already destroyed 422 tapes," Jordan said Friday. "Those kind of actions are, I think, something that we have to look into very seriously, and that's what the committee's doing." 
FoxNews.com has reached out to the IRS for comment. 
Koskinen has served as commissioner since late 2013. He previously served in top positions at Freddie Mac and a range of private companies, and worked at one point in the White House Office of Management and Budget. 
Pursuing impeachment proceedings would be a step beyond contempt charges, which is the tool House Republicans tried to use against both Lerner and former Attorney General Eric Holder in past disputes. 
While impeachment is often thought of as a congressional weapon reserved for presidents, it can apply to "all civil officers of the United States," on the grounds of treason, bribery or other "high crimes and misdemeanors." 
National Review reported that Republicans are considering whether to base a case on alleged misdemeanors. 
One unnamed member of the House oversight panel told National Review that while some are "open to it," others may argue "that's not how we do things, it's not really been used lately.'" 
There was one case, more than a century ago, when articles of impeachment were brought against War Secretary William Belknap -- in 1876. 
He resigned amid the proceedings.

Obama delivers eulogy for pastor killed in South Carolina

President Obama delivered an impassioned eulogy Friday for the pastor killed along with eight other churchgoers last week in South Carolina, memorializing him as a "man of God who lived by faith" and conducted himself with kindness and grace. 
"What a good man," Obama said of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney. 
Capping a service filled with rousing gospel numbers, Obama spoke at length about Pinckney's character, but also race relations and gun violence. He included another appeal for gun regulations toward the end of his remarks, saying, "It would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for ... if we allow ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again." 
Obama ended by singing "Amazing Grace," and was joined by the thousands in attendance. 
Pinckney, a state senator and pastor, was among the nine killed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In Charleston for the service, Obama recalled a man dedicated to both the faith and his community, who "was full of empathy and full of feeling and able to walk in somebody else's shoes and look in their eyes." 
"I did have the pleasure of knowing and meeting him in South Carolina both when we were both a little bit younger," Obama said. "The first thing I noticed was his gracious smile, his resonating baritone and deceptive sense of humor." 
He noted that Pinckney had come from a long line of preachers and "a family of protesters who fought to extend voting rights and for desegregation in the South. ... He set an example worthy of this position, wise beyond his years." 
Pinckney, 41, and eight others were gunned down during a prayer meeting at the church on the evening of June 17. Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested and charged in the murders and has allegedly confessed to the crime. Justice Department investigators are pursuing the murders as a hate crime. 
Friends and family who shared remarks ahead of Obama's remarks said Pinckney had a calling for the pulpit since an early age. Active in his community, he was first elected to the South Carolina General Assembly at the age of 23 and was later elected to the state Senate in 2000. He was appointed the pastor of the historic church, referred to as "Mother Emanuel," in 2010. He had been married since 1999 to wife Jennifer, whom he met in college, and leaves two daughters, Eliana and Malana. 
The deaths of  Pinckney and the eight others have resulted in a debate in Southern states over the Confederate battle flag. A number of stores began pulling Confederate flag merchandise from their shelves after Roof appeared with in photos holding it. South Carolina Gov. Nickki Haley has called for the removal of the flag from the Statehouse grounds, where it has been flying since 1962. 
Obama said that "for too long" the nation has been "blind to the pain the Confederate flag stirred ... it has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For many, black and white, that flag is reminder of systematic oppression and racial subjugation." He said removing it from the state capital wouldn't be an act of political correctness, or an insult to the valor of the soldiers who fought for the South, but a recognition that "slavery was wrong ... the imposition of Jim Crow [laws] after the Civil War, the resistance of civil rights for all people, was wrong." Taking down the flag, he added, "would be one step in an honest accounting of America's history ... a modest and meaningful balm for many unhealed wounds."
First lady Michelle Obama, along with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, joined the president at the funeral, which took place at the College of Charleston. Several members of Congress were also scheduled to attend, along with Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. 
Obama has been called upon throughout his presidency to help soothe the pain of communities mourning gun-related tragedies.He issued a powerful call for national unity in Tucson, Arizona, after a 2011 shooting that severely injured then-Rep. Gabby Giffords. His voice was filled with emotion in 2012 when he spoke at a prayer vigil for the elementary school students and adults killed in Newtown, Connecticut. He's also addressed grief-stricken communities in Fort Hood, Texas and Aurora, Colorado, as well as his own current hometown of Washington. 
The morning after the Charleston shooting, Obama expressed his frustration with the frequency of such tragedies.   
"I've had to make statements like this too many times," he said. "Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times."