Electronic – Power an op amp when having only higher supplies

This should work, but usually there's also a resistor from the non-inverting input to ground:

If \$\dfrac{R4}{R2} = \dfrac{R3}{R1}\$ then:

\$V_{OUT} = \dfrac{R_{3}}{R_{1}} \times (V_{IN+} - V_{IN-})\$

To minimize offset error both inputs have to see the same impedance, and therefore \$R1 = R2\$ and \$R3 = R4\$.
Omitting R4 will only give a scaling factor for the voltage on the non-inverting input, namely:

\$V_{OUT} = 2 \times V_{IN+} - V_{IN-}\$

but changing the setting for the lower potmeter should definitely have a result in the output. Did you measure the voltages on both inputs?

What happens if you set the lower voltage to 2.5V and the upper to 1V? The inverting input should also be 2.5V, and the output 4V. What do you measure?

Note: especially the lower voltage follower is not necessary in your version; the opamp's input current is low enough to be negligible for most uses, and by the way, you're connecting the potmeter's wiper to an exactly same input!

Further reading
differential amplifier tutorial (interesting site overall!)

Positive feedback and negative feedback can be combined to create oscillation (astability). Aside from that, I think you're correct. In the case of the integrator, there's never a step change in the output, so there's never a discontinuity in the capacitor voltage. The only limit is the output voltage range of the op amp.

Assuming an infinite gain with negative feedback implies that the voltages at the two inputs will be equal. Assuming an infinite gain with positive feedback implies that the output will be saturated (unless V+ exactly equals V-).

Even in a real op amp, there's very little current into the input pins (microamps at most). Likewise, the open-loop gain is usually very large at low frequencies (on the order of 10^5 or 10^6 V/V). So the ideal op amp rules are often a pretty good approximation. But all real op amps are limited by their supply voltages, so sometimes that limit is included in an ideal model as well.