Jewish worshippers return to attacked Jerusalem synagogue

JERUSALEM –  Jewish worshippers returned Wednesday to a Jerusalem synagogue that was the scene of a horrific attack that killed five people the day before as Palestinians braced for more punitive home demolitions amid soaring tensions.
At the Kehilat Bnai Torah synagogue in the western neighborhood of Har Nof — attacked Tuesday by two Palestinian cousins wielding meat cleavers, knives and a handgun — people sought comfort in prayer. Those killed included four members of the congregation and an Israeli policeman trying to stop the attack. Israeli security forces killed both assailants in a subsequent shootout.
One of the worshippers, Gavriel Cohen, said Wednesday that the attack showed "that our future in this world is dependent on God."
Also early Wednesday, Israeli security forces demolished the east Jerusalem home of Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi, the Palestinian who killed two people in October in an attack on commuters at a crowded light rail platform in Jerusalem. Al-Shaludi was killed by police after the attack.
The demolition followed angry promises by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would take strict measures to deal with a rising wave of Palestinian attacks that in recent weeks have taken 11 lives — nine in Jerusalem, one in Tel Aviv and one in the West Bank.
Sitting amid the rubble inside the family's destroyed house, al-Shaludi's grandmother said she was proud.
"No one should feel sorry for us, for our demolished home," she said, refusing to give her name for fear of reprisals.
Netanyahu has vowed to revive the controversial policy of home demolitions, which Israel halted in 2005 after determining it wasn't an effective deterrent for attacks.
Much of the recent violence stems from Palestinian anger over stepped-up Israeli visits to a contested holy site in Jerusalem, visits that Palestinians see as a provocation. The site — referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary — is the most sacred place in Judaism and the third holiest site in Islam.

Keystone pipeline bill fails in Senate

A bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline failed in the Senate on Tuesday by just one vote, in a setback not only for the energy project but the politically imperiled Democratic senator who pushed the legislation. 
The bill failed on a 59-41 vote. It needed 60 to pass. 
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., had resurrected the legislation ahead of a tough runoff election next month, hoping to show her Washington clout and put Congress on record in support of the pipeline -- even though the White House indicated President Obama would consider vetoing. 
With pipeline backers falling short and the project still stuck in a State Department review process, Republicans already vowed to bring up the legislation in the next session when they have complete control of Congress. 
"This will be an early item on the agenda in the next Congress," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said after the vote. 
Landrieu's intense lobbying effort ultimately wasn't enough to push the legislation through in the lame-duck session. She had been scrambling to corral the needed 60 votes in the final hours of debate, making phone calls and impassioned remarks from the floor.  
The senator was trying to win over Democratic converts to push the pipeline forward, and also help her struggling Senate runoff bid. Landrieu was forced earlier this month into a Dec. 6 runoff against GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy. The House passed its own bill last Friday, with help from Cassidy. 
But while all 45 Senate Republicans backed the Senate bill, Landrieu wasn't quite able to persuade enough Democratic colleagues. 
Landrieu said after the vote that she does not blame anyone in the Senate for the bill's failure, saying it simply proves that "we have to work our muscle a little a more."
"For jobs, for economic opportunity, for independence, for energy independence --- this fight was worth having," she said. 
Her possible road to passage narrowed Monday as Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Carl Levin, D-Mich. -- two potential flips -- reaffirmed they would vote "no." It narrowed even further after Maine independent Sen. Angus King declared Tuesday he would oppose the bill, even though he said he is "frustrated" that Obama has not made a decision. 
Several liberal Democrats actively lobbied against Landrieu on the vote -- Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, for example, blasted an email to supporters on Monday asking them to sign a petition against Keystone. 
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., argued on the Senate floor Tuesday that the project could lead to China-style pollution and other hazards. 
But Landrieu argued that the natural resources are going to be extracted regardless. 
"It's a high-tech, state-of-the-art pipeline that's going to put thousands of people to work," Landrieu said. "This has absolutely nothing to do with climate change." 
The vote nevertheless offers a preview of what is ahead for Obama on energy and environmental issues when the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress next year. 
For six years, the fate of the Keystone XL oil pipeline has languished amid debates over global warming and the country's energy security. The latest delay came after a lawsuit was filed in Nebraska over its route. 
The proposed crude-oil pipeline, which would run 1,179 miles from the Canadian tar sands to Gulf coast refineries, has been the subject of a fierce struggle between environmentalists and energy advocates ever since Calgary-based TransCanada proposed it in 2008.

Gun dealers report brisk sales ahead of Ferguson grand jury decision

Gun dealers in parts of the St. Louis suburbs have reported brisk sales, especially among first-time buyers, as local residents wait for a grand jury decision on whether to indict the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot teenager Michael Brown this past August. 
One shop, Metro Shooting Supplies, located in an area near the city's main airport, reported selling two to three times more weapons than usual in recent weeks — an average of 30 to 50 guns each day.
"We're selling everything that's not nailed down," owner Steven King told the Associated Press. "Police aren't going to be able to protect every single individual. If you don't prepare yourself and get ready for the worst, you have no one to blame but yourself."
The store's waiting list for private lessons and concealed-carry training classes extends into 2015.
Protest leaders say they are preparing for non-violent demonstrations after the grand jury's decision is announced, but they also acknowledge the risk of more unrest if the panel decides not to issue criminal charges against Darren Wilson, the white officer who shot Brown, who was black and unarmed.
Other gun dealers say their sales spikes are comparable to the increases seen soon after Brown's death on Aug. 9.
"I've probably sold more guns this past month than all of last year," said County Guns owner Adam Weinstein, who fended off looters last summer at his former storefront on West Florissant Avenue, the roadway that was the scene of many nightly protests. Weinstein stood guard over his business with an assault rifle and pistol.
The store has since moved out of Ferguson — in part because of concerns about the potential for further violence.
First-time gun owners account for about 60 percent of his recent customers, King said. Among them is Dave Benne, who on Saturday purchased a Smith & Wesson handgun as shoppers swarmed the 8,600-square-foot showroom.
Benne said he's considered buying a gun for some time, but the events in Ferguson, a town that borders his community of Florissant and shares a school district with its neighbor, were the decisive factor.
"Everyone else has one," he said. "I figured I'd better too."
The St. Louis County Police Department reports a sharp increase in the number of concealed-carry permits issued since Brown's death compared with a year ago.
From May through July, the county issued fewer permits compared with the same period in 2013, records show. But from Aug. 1 through Nov. 12, officials issued 600 more permits, including more than twice as many in October as a year earlier. Fifty-three more permits were issued in the first eight business days of November than in all of November 2013.
Police spokesman Brian Schellman said "it would be naive" to say the increase has not been driven by concern over the grand jury decision.
The purchases are not limited to residents. The owner of an online business that sells tactical gear to law-enforcement agencies said his warehouse in the suburb of Chesterfield has been visited by Missouri state troopers and officers from the Department of Homeland Security assigned to help state and local police.
"None of us has ever seen anything quite like this before," said Chad Weinman of Cat5 Commerce, which operates the website TacticalGear.com. "There is an uncertainty in the air that has my entire staff on edge. To say that St. Louis residents are concerned about what will transpire in the coming days is an understatement."
At the Ferguson Wal-Mart, one of more than a dozen stores attacked the night after Brown's death, managers have removed ammunition from shelves as a precaution.
The move to make the ammo less visible apparently did not deter customers. A manager said Monday that the store had sold most of its supply of bullets.

Key ObamaCare official used threats, 'tantrums' to push website launch despite concerns, email claims

A key ObamaCare official engaged in a “cruel and uncaring march” to launch the federal health care website last year and wasn’t open to seeking a delay despite concerns, according to a newly revealed email from her former second-in-command.
The damning email from Michelle Snyder, formerly the No. 2 official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was released to FoxNews.com ahead of a Wednesday House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee hearing on the security and botched rollout of Healthcare.gov. 
In the September 2013 email to Todd Park, the former Chief Technology Officer of the U.S., Snyder characterized her then-boss, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, as a temper tantrum-throwing, demanding official who vowed the website would launch on time "no matter what." 
Snyder implied that Tavenner had threatened her job if Snyder was unable to deliver.
“Just so you know (Tavenner) decided in January we were going no matter what,” Snyder wrote. “Hence the really cruel and uncaring march that has occurred since January when she threatened me with a demotion or forced retirement if I didn’t take this on.”
Snyder’s words may have been prophetic --- she announced her retirement just a few months later. She told Park that Tavenner did not have a good enough understanding of the risks of launching before the website was ready to fight for a delay. 
“Do you really think (Tavenner) has enough understanding of the risks to fight for a delay --- no and hell no,” she wrote.
She later added: “I appreciate you (sic) belief in the goodness of others but at this point I am too tired to pretend that there is a decision to be made - it is just how much crap my team will have to take if it isn’t sufficiently successful – you haven’t lived through the temper tantrums and threats of the last 9 months.”
Snyder was in charge of the rocky rollout and announced her retirement last December in the midst of the turmoil. Tavenner said at the time that Snyder had actually planned to retire the previous year, but had stayed on in order to help "with the challenges facing CMS in 2013."
The CMS did not respond to an emailed request for comment from FoxNews.com.
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee obtained the email and others through a subpoena to compel Park to testify on how much knowledge he had about security concerns with the website before it launched in October 2013. 
The committee is investigating how much Park and the White House knew about the problems with the website before the launch. 
Park has distanced himself from the website’s problems, telling a House committee last year that he did not “actually have a really detailed knowledge” of the website before the launch and was “not even familiar with the development and testing regimen that happened prior to October 1.”
However, the emails from Park, who briefed the White House on the progress of the website, seem to indicate he had more knowledge of the website than his statements indicate. In the emails, he mentions specific teams, hardware and user targets for the website.
The Wednesday hearing comes after the beginning of the second round of open enrollment for the health care law. The enrollment period began Saturday with few issues compared to the previous period, which was plagued with site outages and other problems.
Committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith told FoxNews.com in a statement the hearing is especially important because Americans are in the process of signing up for ObamaCare. 
"It’s time for the White House to come clean with the American people about the security of the Obamacare website," Smith, R-Texas, said.