UPDATE 2PM ET, JUNE 18

“There is something particularly heartbreaking about a death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace, in a place of worship.”

President Obama expressed his sympathy and anger following the “senseless” attack in Charleston, in which six women and three men were murdered during a meeting of their bible study group, saying he has “had to make statements like this too many times.”

Fourteen times, to be precise.

“Now is the time for mourning and healing, but let’s be clear: At some point as a country, we have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” the President said. “It is in our power to do something about it… I say this knowing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those opportunities.”

Meanwhile, a picture is beginning to emerge of the suspected gunman, his victims and the circumstances of last night’s tragic massacre.

http://twitter.com/nxthompson/status/611580366877536256

http://twitter.com/GdnBelief/status/611580347222876160

Charlie Pierce writes in a powerful piece at Esquire magazine on why what happened should not be described as “unthinkable.”

Somebody thought long and hard about it. Somebody thought to load the weapon. Somebody thought to pick the church. Somebody thought to sit, quietly, through some of Wednesday night bible study. Somebody thought to stand up and open fire, killing nine people, including the pastor. Somebody reportedly thought to leave one woman alive so she could tell his story to the world. Somebody thought enough to flee. What happened in that church was a lot of things, but unthinkable is not one of them.

 

UPDATE 12 NOON ET, JUNE 18

A 21-year-old white man is in custody, suspected in the murder of nine people at an historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday night. Authorities said alleged gunman Dylann Roof had been arrested in Shelby, North Carolina, about 250 miles from Charleston following a traffic stop.

The suspect was described as being “cooperative” with law enforcement and the Charleston police chief said he did not believe the suspect was acting with others.

With prayer services underway in the state, Gov Nikki Haley said “we woke up this morning and the heart and soul of South Carolina was broken.”

 

UPDATE 6AM ET JUNE 18 

Nine churchgoers murdered in Charleston ‘hate crime’

A manhunt is underway in Charleston, South Carolina, after nine people were murdered in a shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Calhoun Street downtown, one of the city’s oldest black churches. Police and the FBI are searching for a white male suspect in his 20s. Reuters reports:

“To have an awful person come in and shoot them is inexplicable, obviously the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible,” Charleston Mayor Joe Riley told reporters. “The only reason someone could walk into a church to shoot people praying is out of hate.”

* The latest from the Charleston Post & Courier is here.

* The latest from The State is here.

* Watch a live feed from local ABC TV affiliate WCIV-TV here.

* Follow the Charleston Police Department on Twitter here.

The shooting happened at around 9PM on Wednesday night as a group was gathered inside the church for a bible study class. Police have not yet identified those who were killed, but church members, friends and political colleagues said that the church’s pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, 41, was among them.

 

11PM ET JUNE 17

As the Supreme Court works to clear its caseload for the current calendar, it is expected to issue one or more opinions on Thursday, in addition to its usual Monday decision days.

And some of the decisions which could come tomorrow are very important indeed. NPR writes:

Among the biggest issues hanging fire: the status of same-sex marriages, subsidies for health insurance under Obamacare and the drugs that states may use to administer the death penalty by lethal injection. But the court is also expected to weigh in on the drawing of lines for congressional elections, the right to put the Confederate flag on license plates and the right of a municipality to regulate outdoor signage.

* Follow live at SCOTUSblog here.

The Christian Science Monitor writes on Obamacare 101 – What happens if the Supreme Court rules against federal subsidies? While the Huffington Post reports that Congressional Republicans met on Wednesday to formulate a response if the Court wipes away subsidies for millions of consumers.

“.. totally repealing the law is the key feature, as it has been for more than five years.”

The National Journal, meanwhile, looks at another high-profile case, and asks ‘What happens if the Court rejects same-sex marriage?’  an outcome, the Journal says, which would leave millions of gay couples in legal limbo.

Legal experts agree that the fallout from a ruling against same-sex marriage would amount to legal chaos. The right to marry would disappear in several states where it exists, deepening the divide between states and, in some cases, even creating uneven playing fields within the same state.

But it’s impossible to know where, exactly, same-sex marriage would remain legal, where it would disappear temporarily, and where it would disappear forever.

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* POLITICS * The contentious fast-track trade bill, supported by Republicans and backed by the White House looks set to come up again in the House on Thursday. The Huffington Post reports:

The plan, according to Democratic and Republican sources, is that after the clean TPA bill is passed and sent to the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will then attach TAA to the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a separate trade bill involving African countries.

As Republicans revealed their strategy, House and Senate Democrats who had previously voted in favor of fast-track headed to the White House to meet with Obama about the path forward. The question will be whether Republican leaders and Obama can convince Senate Democrats to vote for fast-track on the promise that TAA will reach the president’s desk later.

A political action committee aligned with GOP candidate Carly Fiorina changed its title from Carly for America to CARLY for America, following the intervention of the FEC, enforcing a rule that says a PAC cannot include the name of the candidate. The new name is therefore Conservative, Authentic Responsive Leadership for You and for America.

Of course.

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* WORLD * A meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday will address the growing Greek debt crisis, but as the BBC reports, the Athens government thinks “an immediate solution unlikely.”

“Failure to reach an agreement would… mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and, most likely, from the European Union,” [the Bank of Greece] said in a report.

(The Guardian)

The widely-anticpated – and leaked – Papal encyclical on climate change and global poverty will be officially revealed on Thursday, amid predictable opposition from the fossil fuel industry and some Republican Presidential candidates. Rev John Jenkins, President of the University of Notre Dame, writes in the Chicago Tribune:

..if the pope’s encyclical becomes simply another salvo in the give-and-take of our political debates, we will have missed its point. If our analysis is only about which side is supported or undermined by the pope’s letter, or which policy is endorsed or dismissed, then we will not have really engaged. The pope is out not to declare a side but to challenge the consciences of all of us. We should all feel the sting.

The New York Times apologized following condemnation of its coverage of the tragic balcony collapse in Berkeley in which six young people, including five Irish citizens, died.

***

* BUSINESS * The US Treasury said a yet-to-be-selected woman would replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill in 2020.

http://twitter.com/USATWashington/status/611349986710790145

Jimmy Lee, one of JPMorgan’s key dealmakers, died suddenly on Wednesday aged 62. “Jimmy was a master of his craft, but he was so much more – he was an incomparable force of nature,” Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Nelson Doubleday, publishing heir and former owner of the New York Mets, died aged 81. The New York Times writes:

Books and baseball defined Mr. Doubleday’s life. He was the grandson of Frank Nelson Doubleday, who founded the publishing company bearing his name in 1896, and the son of Nelson Doubleday, who built the business into a mass-market powerhouse.

Another Doubleday ancestor was Abner, a great-great-granduncle long credited (erroneously) with inventing the game of baseball.

***

* SPORTS * According to Reuters, top officials at Fifa, including President Sepp Blatter and Secretary General Jerome Valcke, have “lawyered up” as a US corruption probe intensifies.

Meanwhile..