earlier this week, pastor schafer announced he would do neither. pastor schafer said he hoped the church would change its doctrine, which he called, quote, discriminatory. we'll be right back. how naughty was he? oh boy... [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. don'neutralize them odorand freshen.ash. with glad odorshield with febreze. life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. >>> there's a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. there's no such

pastor frank schafer and pastor robert jeffries, thank you so much for speaking with us this morning. >> thank you you to both. >> thank you. >> merry christmas. >> you to, too. >> merry christmas you to. >>> for more stories on faith, be sure to check out our belief blog at cnn.com/belief. >>> switching gears, a man who used to be russia's richest sat down exclusive wli cnn to talk about his time in prison for the first time since getting out. >> mchale was released on friday after president putin signed a amnesty decree. he was a major critic of the government and he's been in prison for ten years. charges in which he maintained innocence. he spoke about one incident where he says he was stabbed in the face. >> when i was stabbed with a knife. i was lucky. >> translator: it just -- he tried to get to my eye but got my nose. as a result, the dentist who was there was somebody who was also a plastic surgeon. and carried out the operation on me which means it was virtually not noticeable. >> more of "new day" after the break. a subaru... ...are the hands that do good things for the who

they criticized the church for stripping reverend frank schafer of his credentials. the church also removed him as pastor in lebanon pennsylvania. supporters say it is wrongful for the church to punish him for standing by his son's gay relationship. schafer is appealing the church's decision. >> you know, it took me many years for this evolution of becoming a supporter of lgbt issues. i was not always in support, so i cannot judge anybody, and that's what i'm seeing going on right now within our church, as well. there are people that feel strongly on the other side of the issue, but i'm hoping and praying that they also will go through this evolution, and come to the same place that i have come to, mainly to accept all lgbt members of our church, and their rights. >> the pass tor says he has already been invited to join several other churches. a georgia school board is taking an aggressive stance in an effort to protect students from gun violence. board mens just voted to allowed train security officers to have military style assault rifles, they claim this will make

schafer has been a outspoken critic of his church's treatment of gay men and women. here is our story. around 1 1/2 million kilometers away. from here, without the sun's glare it will be able to survey the surrounding stars with unprecedented precision. write will refine those positions to many cases the 1% or better, so for the first time we will have an accurate map of the large chunk of the galaxy. >> the most powerful ever put in space. >> this precision tracking technique will pinpoint the position of around 2 million stars an hour. that data around 50 gig bites each day, will then be transmitted back to earth for analysis. >> if we can measure the distances a lot of type of stars in our own galaxy, question with look at more distance galaxies. after around 1 billion stars it will al be able to measure the writen, composition, and motion through space. there are going to be served by this very powerful spacecraft, to map the way the galaxy is moving we will know how it is formed how the galaxy is developing and together -- because it is applicable to others. >>

schafer gave america tonight exclusive access to his journey, and insight into the challenge he faced in his believes, and in his faith. >> what i needed to find out is what in my heart, what is my heart telling me. s the right thing to do here. >> today i came out to the world, with my decision. and that the decision was first of recall, i cannot uphold the united methodist book of discipline in its entirety, and secondly, i will not voluntarily surrender my credentials. >> ♪ angel of the lord came down ♪ ♪ and glory shown around ♪. >> the very beginning would be myself receiving a phone call from a lady that wanted to remain amon nows, and this lady said i need you to know that your son is considering suicide. and it's because he is gay. and i remember thinking, my son is not gay. and we talked to him that day, we asked him straight forward, are you gay. maybe secretly i hoped for a different answer, then yes, because even though i embraced him, when he came out, i still had a struggle with it. i of coursed myself did i so something wrong, and this was in 2000. was a differe

. >> pastor schafer says he'll continue to speak out and share his story. >>> and now to the white house tonight. in case you missed it, a surprise move from president obama. he commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates who were in prison on crack cocaine charges. you see back in the 1980s, crack laws were passed for stiff sentences for crack possession. judges criticized them but forced to obey the law. so today in a statement, prob said he was responding to, and i'm quoting him, "an unfair system. if they had been sentenced under the current law, many of them would have already serve their time and paid their debt to society." lisa gilbert was the first main it to walk free this afternoon. most of the others will be released in the next couple of months. >>> and there is a controversial new book out about president obama's family written by his half brother. it is filled with damaging information about mr. obama's father and criticisms of the president himself including details of a reportedly chilly relationship between the brothers. brian todd got the inside story for us tonigh

it we'll our partners in the region schafer. administrations facing pressure from skeptics at home and abroad as the deal comes under fire for washington and tel aviv. we would call a halt to damaging wissmann support the season of pushing so many people into poverty. and corporation tax counseling free child care and raising the minimum wage scotland outlines how aligned with the outside the u.k. preparing the ground for next year's independence. the latest news on the week's top stories you're watching the wake me here on our international with me. and welcome to the program. first test is a new crane on demanding by the president and the government step down after a crime down on a mass demonstration in the campus health the use of brute force and tear gas by bars to accept us as security forces left ronnie's in central cave bond for a month the commotion was a direct response to the country's leadership rejecting a trade deal with the easy he's a dictator chef scare reports now on why ukrainian officials got cold feet. from

this agreement is very much more dangerous place a real break our partners in the region schafer. the obama administration's facing pressure from skeptics under broad as the deal comes under fire from washington and tel aviv. we would call a halt to damaging wissmann support the seas are pushing so many people into the fold the tea corporation tax cutting of free child care and raising the minimum wage scotland outlines how life would be better outside the u.k. comparing the ground for next year's independence about. the latest news on the week's top stories and it was starts in ukraine protests as there have broken through the metal bahrain around the sitter's central square as they regroup after clashes were. police on this saturday and you're watching live pictures right now from the scene also she's a bond mass demonstrations with the upcoming month protesters in ukraine are demanding both the president and the government step down in response to the country's leadership rejecting a trade deal with the e.u. the country's top officials now say they're prepared to boost further

back with the group's founder, judy schafer and along with us a man who served for 8 years. he says before his trip to israel in 2012 he was living in darkness. and greg cruz gretter served as a cruise sometime inner. great to have you guys with us. [ applause ] >> you said this group saved your life. now that's pretty dramatic. how did they do that? >> the thing was, is at the time coming back from iraq, i was feeling depressed. i didn't have anyone to, you know, counter any things that i was going through, didn't know how to act. i didn't even know what ptsd was. but there was a phone call that was made to me from team red white and blue that someone knew from heroes to heroes. it was actually august 10th that i got the phone call, and i had just visited the va. i just went to the va. they gave me some more medications, said hey, this is what you need to do. and i had told myself. i can't take anymore medicine. my faith isn't there anymore. i'm going to do something. it's going to be today. i don't want to be here anymore. and lo and behold, i got a phone call that same da

. >> i want to turn back to something we walkie-talkied about the colonel schafer. robert levinson, former fbi who may or may not be a cia agent in iran. your thoughts? >> i find myself in the embarrassing position of agreeing with jay carney. the a.p. never should have broke the story. it makes it much harder, if not impossible for iran to quietly give him back. now the story is out. >> he's been gone since 2007. the a.p. found out around 2010. they said they would wait. they have waited three years. doesn't look like we are closer to getting levinson so they went with it. that's a bad idea? >> it is. it's a separate issue with this administration. the above administration the has n't tried to help them in cuba, taken hostage in north korea or other americans in iran. the obama administration doesn't protect citizens. that's a given. the best hope for getting this guy back, if he's still alive, would have been quiet diplomacy, a quiet swap. now you have made it a macho thing with iran. >> can i push back a little bit? >> sure. push back at me all you want. >> for m

david bose, sabrina schafer, and nick gillespie. so, the big story now is obamacare. the affordable care act. many people really believed it would cover more people with more insurance and still be affordable. cheaper. i mean, how could that be? magically more stuff for less. now some of the truth has come out. prices are up. some people lost coverage. the cado institute predicted that so -- >> that's right. >> are you happy? >> yes, we are happy to have been proved right. look. everybody knows you can't have the government at least they should know, you can't have government central planning create more things for more people and have it cost less. we could have more stuff for less money if we made people consumers of their own health care an they had some skin in the game, if they had their own -- if they were paying out of pocket for these things but we are moving away from that. of course it's more expensive and what's happened so fa-- >> people say the private insurance companies make a profit and by government mandate the profit isn't too much and organize thing

. >> brenda schafer am a georgetown university. are these so successful because a number of allies took a big risk to join the sanctions yucca what is your advice to these countries that put their reputations on the line for the sanctions, and these countries are already getting payback from iran. what would be your advice to these states and to washington? >> the short answer to the question, they deserve the best deal we can get. we have to negotiate on the kind of deal that bob has been talking about. i think if we do, they will feel that their investment in this process was justified. we owe them that. i am not uncomfortable with netanyahu out there doing his dr. strangelove thing. it is good to have a little crazy on your side when negotiating in that part of the world. i want them to keep the pressure up. i have no problem with that. >> right there. to dr. brzezinski -- it seems to me that the united states has and there is no direct formal relationship between the iranian nuclear deal and syria. on the other hand, i think it

>> oscar schafer, marc lasry, kyle dash joining the group. so exciting. >> they're all playing for charity. >> right. >> how do we get information about this? how does the contest even work? >> so portfolios for purpose are an annual fantasy portfolio stock competition, where each player competes on behalf of their favorite charity. there's three levels -- the novice class, open to everyone, and $100 to participate. >> anyone watching can participate. >> anyone and everyone, no prior expiererience needed. and then the middle class, with two years of investment, and the master class, for well-known, highly respected and those that are really dedicated philanthropists, and that's $10,000 to participate and tation only. how it works is you sign up before december 31st. you pick your five stocks, long or short, billion-dollar market cap minimum, and then you pick the charity that you want to compete on behalf of. >> so i know this is all about charity, but there's got to be a little sense of bragging rights among the group. >> oh, yeah. >> dinan

that was made up by a writer named jeff schafer. that was his joke. and, actually, i didn't want to put it on tv. >> you didn't? why? >> because it was sort of like a family disgrace. and then my younger brother let it slip that this went on. so the other writers and jerry said, yeah, we would like to give this to america. and i said i don't think america wants it at all and i don't think they should have it. >> america is laughing it up. >> they prevailed and in and out chickens have come home to roost. >> so you were george running out of the diner? >> faster, yeah. yes. i tempted to run out of the diner. >> the holiday at home also include the airing of grievances and the feats of strength? >> no. i was not forced to wrestle my father. if i had, i would have been raised by the state of new york. not by my parents. the grievance thing, though, yeah. a lot of it was a lot -- most of it was actually airing grievances into a tape recorder, talking about all the indignities that my father had suffered at readers digest, all the indignities my brother an

statements from the disabled american veterans, tragedy assistance program for survivors and sulin schafer. i thank you all for being here today. i now yield to the ranking member for her opening statement. thank you, mr. chairman, for holding a hearing on this very important topic. i also want to thank the witnesses for their attendance this morning. first, i would like to applaud the va for reducing the benefits backlog by 34 percent since march 2013. we hope that the va can maintain their momentum and end the decades old backlog. our numbers show that you are on pace to indeed reach the secretary's goal by 2015. i ask you to relay this message keep up the good work. as vba continues to work through its transformation, it is important that we are working towards solutions that will improve the processes of providing veterans the benefits they have earned, in the most timely and efficient manner possible. we should be forward thinking to address the next issues, not just the problems from the past. we want to anticipate what is coming down the road so we do not create any new backlog issu