A painful reality for American Jews
| A painful reality for American Jews, and everyone else  The most poignant aspect of the recent armed standoff at a Texas synagogue is that an escaped rabbi attributed his survival to active shooter training.
The siege, which ended when an FBI rescue team killed British hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram, could have been much worse. But the idea that American Jews must now learn war zone tactics just to worship is a grave commentary on rising anti-Semitism.
For example, a gunman killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. Another assailant killed one person and wounded three others at a San Diego synagogue in 2019. And three people were killed at a New Jersey kosher market in the same year.
Thankfully, all four hostages escaped Saturday's siege at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. The FBI believes Akram was motivated by a desire to free convicted Pakistani terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, who is jailed in Texas.
The case raises big questions. First, how was Akram, who was known to Britain's domestic security services, able to get into the United States? It's not as if US immigration officials have not been on high alert over the last 20 years — plenty of foreigners of color and of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent who endured unpleasant episodes at border posts can speak to that.
Another question is how Akram, who arrived in December in New York and traveled on to Texas, got a gun. Are the Lone Star state's lax firearm laws, which conservatives claim enhance individual safety, to blame?
Saturday's ordeal started when Akram knocked on the door of the synagogue and Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker invited him in for a cup of tea. But as a service started, the gunman revealed his true purpose. Eventually, the rabbi orchestrated his own escape and that of his fellow hostages by throwing a chair while the gunman took a drink. He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer his training equipped him to fight back.
"It doesn't matter if you are in a synagogue, if you are Jewish, if you are Christian, if you are not religious at all, it can happen in a shopping mall. Unfortunately, this is the world we are living in," he said.
"I hope it is not our reality forever." The world and America Ukraine warns Russia has almost completed its military buildup
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Missouri blasted out a mistaken "Batman" alert Biden goes long in anniversary news conference  President Joe Biden marked the anniversary of his inauguration, which falls on Thursday, with a wide-ranging news conference at the White House that lasted nearly two hours. He begins his second year in office needing another look from voters, with his approval ratings in the low 40s and with Republicans heavily favored in midterm congressional elections in November.
He tried to project authority and clarity on issues from the pandemic to the Ukraine crisis and attempted to revive a relationship with some Americans who may have soured on him since he beat ex-President Donald Trump.
Here are his major points:
Biden predicts Putin will invade Ukraine
"I'm not so sure he is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something," Biden said. He described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a leader trying to fight for Russia's place between China and the West and trying to make up for what he sees as the disastrous fall of the Soviet Union.
The President also suggested that if Putin decided on a minor incursion into Ukraine rather than a full-scale invasion, he may not be able to get all NATO members on board for the massive new package of sanctions he has promised. That comment caused immediate alarm in Kyiv and potentially gave Putin an opening.
The President tries to show Americans he feels their pain
Biden acknowledged the "almost two years of physical, emotional and psychological" duress imposed by the pandemic but tried to offer hope of a way out. "For many of us, it's been too much to bear. We're in a very different place now," he said.
Biden bemoaned Trump's influence over the Republican Party
"You ever think one man out of office could intimidate an entire party where they're unwilling to take any vote contrary to what he thinks he should be taken for fear of being defeated in the primary?" Biden asked.
He complained that five Republicans had told him they agreed with him on certain issues but feared they would lose in a primary. "We've gotta break that," Biden said.
Inflation will be "painful" for months to come
Biden argued that the economic policies he's trying to pass through Congress to ease the plight of working Americans would offset rising prices for food staples and gasoline, but that it will take a while.
"There's a lot we have to do, it's not going to be easy, but I think we can get it done, but it's going to be painful for a lot of people in the meantime," Biden said.
Biden to salvage parts of his sweeping agenda
The President signaled a new tactic. He plans to break out parts of his sweeping social safety and climate package that has been blocked by two moderate Democratic senators. He said he thinks he can still get a $500 billion energy package through to meet US global climate commitments. And he reckons free pre-kindergarten education is also doable.
But he says he's not sure that he can pass an extension of a child tax credit that has lifted many families out of poverty.
He's not giving up on voting rights
As Biden spoke at the White House, holdout Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was giving a fiery speech in the Senate in which he refused to vote to change the chamber's rules to pass voting rights legislation with a simple majority. Biden vehemently rejected accusations he had been too slow to act on an issue that is hugely important to his base.
Biden vows to get out of town
The President said that he'd been stuck too much in the White House because of Covid-19 and the pressure of work and needed to get out more and look voters in the eye. He pledged to do exactly that in the run-up to midterm elections in November.
And he turns up the heat on Republicans
As he seeks to rebuild his political standing, the President took aim at Republicans who are opposing everything he's trying to do. "What are they for?" he said, in a refrain likely to be heard repeatedly in the coming months. Thanks for reading. Thursday is the anniversary of US President Biden's presidential inauguration. The founder of the Oath Keepers is scheduled to attend his detention hearing after the US Justice Department charged him with seditious conspiracy. The 2022 Sundance Film Festival kicks off online. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
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