George zimmerman verdict. Send us a tweet, if you go to twitter. Com cspanwj. We want to get your thoughts on the implications of the zimmerman verdict. Here is what president obama had to say in a statement he put out yesterday on the zimmerman verdict. He said the New York Times editorial weighs in this morning what are your thoughts on this . Stand your ground law, should they be debated and revised . , where the verdict took place, this is the miami herald. Larry in hernando, mississippi, a democratic caller, you are first up. People like him are judge, jury, and executioner. , do youder these laws think that gives people like George Zimmerman the power of judge and jury . And and exited executioner. That law should be repealed. He killed that boy. There is no doubt about that. It is just a crying shame. A kid going to the store should not die like that. Host jonah from the nashville, tennessee. This law is a recipe for civilians who are not trained in Law Enforcement to become Law Enforcement. It is ridiculous. Trained toliceman know when to take action. And yet you are putting guns into the hands of untrained civilians like George Zimmerman. Then you have people with Mental Health and other problems and the people who are against gun control do not want these people to be restricted from having guns. That means any civilian is Trayvon Martin. It is not matter if you are black and white. African americans are more likely to be targeted that you have to believe that anyone with a grudge, including a woman who , if she decided to defend herself on this law her rapist could say he is standing his ground and killing her. Host we will go to richard in mount vernon, new york. Caller the stand your ground he wasoo long ago black and his victim was white. Nobody complained. The problem is the construction of the situation. Mr. Zimmerman is not white. Hisfather is white but mother is spanish. Were darker iton might not have been a problem. There have been a lash of break ins in florida. Here is a guy who is a Neighborhood Watch man. What else is he supposed to do . We are not saying it is right. Could have gone back door. Host what about the stand your ground part of this . Nobody made a complaint about it. It does need to be changed. I agree with that. This is from reuters. Have stand your ground laws. The bright orange states are unlimited, 24 states with unlimited stand your ground laws. No duty to retreat regardless of where an attack occurs. The lighter orange states are somewhat limited, that is seven states. It extends to places outside the home such as a vehicle or place of business. The lighter orange states, seven of them, have a limited stand your ground laws. We are getting your take on these laws from the zimmerman verdict. The New York Times announced this piece scan in florida, democratic caller. I am 12 miles from fort lauderdale. Host so what do you make of all this . Caller the stand your ground it is a matter of intelligence. When a man with a nine millimeter in a car follow someone with two flashlights, startingf the car, the concentration, and then starting they confrontation, and then shoots the guy, it is a onesided decision. The New York Times said it that because of the stand your ground laws the could not make an arrest. Once you know the facts, he admitted it. It is on tape that he followed the guy. He looked at the guy and said he was no good. What are you going to do in the dark . Follow someone in the dark and see what they do. It is unbelievable that this country can put up with that kind of, it is unbelievable. Go to virginia, a republican caller. You are on the air. Caller i believe that you should be able to defend yourself. I think that George Zimmerman did exactly what he had to do. What really started this whole especially people that not that have the skin are upset about way this is per trade since the beginning. They portrayed trayvon mar portrayed Trayvon Martin as this kid. George zimmerman was literally being beaten. At does not matter. They say the cuts were small. He had lumps on his head. Anybody who has ever been hit in the head knows that when you get lumps in your head that is pretty serious. Is a tragedy but i think it was the way that it was played out, acting like it was h small , a preadolescent skipping school and eating skittles. Host what about the stand your ground laws . Caller it is a dangerous time. If i go camping or if i am in a car by myself, i will definitely get myself a gun. It is a dangerous place. There are people robbing people. Those two black kids it is not the black kids. That is all garbage. There is a lot of racism. I think this kid, trayvon, absolutely hated white people. Calling peoplecrackers. Calling people crackers. This is on the Huffington Post website. Also from the Huffington Post from in may this year that is a little bit about the Civil Rights Commission and their vote in may of this year to investigate these stand your ground laws and whether or not there is a racial bias in them. In georgia,o paul independent caller. Hello. Caller you look in eyes this, greta. You look nice this morning, greta. I live in a right to work. This is all from the horses mouth. Remember when occupy was coming to georgia and the unions were on the streets . Wehad a meeting up there dont mind if people come down here and do stuff. Host i am going to get you back on topic, what do you think about the stand your ground laws . Were waiting on a black to be killed by a white. They hated. They harass you and in your front car. Host i am not understanding the link between stand your ground and unions. Caller that is what they want to get rid of. You want to hassle people. We dont allow stuff like that. I could stand my ground so long as youre talking about about something nice. If you are owing to mess with me host donna from henderson, nevada. Whenr George Zimmerman, he was first profiled, and this ofase of roe filing he said he saw a young man that looked suspicious. He first had the opportunity to walk away from the threat. He stand your ground laws should for you totunity protect yourself, not for you to place yourself in harms way. He then sought out the advice from the authority through a 911 call. The young man is on foot. He was then told to not approach the suspicious person. Thehen disregarded instructions of the Police Department and pursued the threat. Stand your ground laws should not give people the right to pursue and put themselves in deep position in the position to be in the way of a threat. That is like a woman chasing and then the man attacks her and wants to know why she was attacked. Man could have saved both of their lives that night. Him,y by not pursuing staying in his car, and going home, and allowing the proper authorities to check trayvon out. A young man is dead. Yearold is being treated like he is 12 years old, what does that have to do with anything . She does not know who trayvon is. Someone of thee , thee of a thought or punk same as saying George Zimmerman is racist and hates black people. We are getting your tweets and emails on the zimmerman verdict. E want to get some other news all 100 senators are invited to a closeddoor meeting in the Old Senate Chamber to stalk about to talk about changing senate rules, possibly invoking the Nuclear Option. Harry reid says we are heading that direction. Congressional reporter is joining us on the phone to talk about this. Guest on the agenda . It originated from senator mcconnells office. We have not gotten an agenda yet. I do not think we will see one yet. I think it will be an opportunity for everyone to clear their minds and possibly some sort of gang of ask members to stop the senate from pursuing a Nuclear Option. We will see if there is a group trying to pursue some sort of compromise. Host the last time this was talked about when the republicans controlled the senate in 2005 there was a gang of 14 that came up with a compromise proposal. Is there a gang in works right now you go caller not that i am aware of gang in works right now . Caller not that i am aware of. It is important to remember just sixame out months ago, carl levin and john mccain negotiated a compromise that some people have been derisively referring to as a gentlemans agreement because they do not believe it helped that function at all. Host what was that agreement . Caller some minor rules changes and a gentlemans agreement between reid and mcconnell. Rita said he would not go forward with the Nuclear Option and mcconnell said he would work cooperatively with the majority process nominations and now each of them are saying the other has gone back on their words and they dont know if they can trust them anymore. Harry reid want to do . How does he want to change senate rules . Caller he wants to make it easier to confirm president Barack Obamas executive nominees. That are specific nominees are controversy oh, especially those from the National Relations labor board. Republicans do not want to touch them right now. There is also the department of labor export and import bank that are the other nominees the majority is trying to get through. Host some report that republicans already have said let us move forward on these nominees. Is the issue not resolved yet go caller not resolve the echo caller not resolved . Not resolved. Mcconnell made a counter offer that is really the sticking point. That could actually defuse the entire drama. Host how does this all work . They meet tonight and we will see what comes out of that meeting. If there is not a compromise and closer votes on some of how would the, Senate Majority leader put this on the books . Caller caller he has been very cagey about this. Basically what would happen is they would use a majority vote normally you have to have 67 senators to change the rule. There are constitutional options. O override that i guess that would happen as soon as the votes were to occur. We do not believe they would get enough support to move forward on these culture votes. Harry reid may go to the Nuclear Option as soon as tomorrow morning. Burgess everett with politico, thank you for your time this morning. We want to stay on this story with the socalled Nuclear Option and what might happen. He will show you what Senate Majority leader harry reid had to say on meet the press. He was on that show as well as mitch minority leader mcconnell. We will start with harry reid and what he had to say, his argument for changing the senate rules. [video clip] a president , whether president obama, clinton, or bush, whoever is the president should have the people on their team that they want. The sky is falling. I have been a leader for the same time as john smith. Airing the during the time that he was there, one filibuster. During the time president obama has been president , 16 filibusters. During the history of this country there have only been 20. It 18 times, we did it just a year ago. Want everyone to hear this the changes we are making are very minimal. What we are doing is saying, listen American People, shouldnt president obama have somebody working for him that he wants . The 15 people that are pending . They have been waiting an average of nine months. Harry reid making the case for changing senate rules. His counterpart, minority leader mitch mcconnell, had this to say on the same program. [video clip] we have an opportunity to pull back from the brink in this joint meeting. We are going to have a ball of senators and the Old Senate Chamber. I hope we will come to the senses and not change the core of the senate. We have never changed the rules of the sent by breaking the rules of the senate in order to diminish the voices of individual senators. We should not start it now, particularly since every one of the president s nominees that would be subject to this rule change have been confirmed. That was the republican minority leader on meet the press, making his case on why we should not be changing the senate will story of the senate rules. Be talkingwill about it this morning at the center for American Progress at 10 30 a. M. Eastern time. We will have coverage of that here on cspan. Back to our topic, the zimmerman verdict and stand your ground loss, what are your thoughts on this . Valletta cohad a piece that that ranut the 12 in may 2012. It says chuck in tampa, florida, a democrat, what are your thoughts yet go what are your thoughts . I like the law. Have a loaded gun when you are tracking somebody echo he was not the treating tracking somebody . He was not retreating. Host lauren in los angeles. Important to stick to the facts in this case. We have a tragic situation here. One of the callers said when the authorities advised him that they do not need him to pursue the gentleman, he actually stopped pursuing him and was attacked when he was on his way back to his vehicle, and that is all we know. Stand your ground, it has been politicized at this point. Not a stand your ground situation. Mr. Zimmerman was attacked by trayvon, he was getting beaten. This was a case of selfdefense. That is why the council did not do stand your ground, because this is not that kind of situation. This has to do with racism. The fact that the president is commenting on a local trial that i aming to do flabbergasted that this happens in the United States. Takes this one case in politicizes it into something it isnt. Host here is the baltimore sun. Caller mr. Zimmerman has a target on his back at this point. They did not want to bring charges because they did not have the evidence. They actually hijacked it, the police chief was fired. The feds are now stepping in. Al sharpton, jesse jackson, they are out of business if they do not keep race an issue. The idea of the federal government jumping in, from the New York Times, attorney general eric holder is expected to address this issue when he speaks tomorrow in orlando to the naacp. In virginia, floyd republican caller. Hello. Caller i think the stand your ground law is a good thing. Been on that jury i believe he was not guilty. Is tryingr president to start a race war here in the United States. To black menently they rapedman a white woman. You do not hear anything about that. Think eric holder is pushing for a race war. Democratic caller from new york. Chris, you are on the air. Talking about us that 16yearold he goes out by himself to get soda. That not have time everybody making comments that it is ok to stand your ground. It is not ok to just killed a 16yearold. Their life has not begun yet. You are willing to sacrifice your 16yearold because this guy things that every 16yearold is a criminal . An independent scholar from arkansas. Caller i agree with the person who just spoke. A 16yearold kid, it was a tragic story. I think zimmerman is guilty of something, seconddegree murder, i dont think. The police in florida are racist. I know for that of fact because i have lived there. There is a lot more in florida going on besides a boy killed by a white man. His they have noted that mother is hispanic and his father is white. American think the people look at him as a white man and trayvon as a black boy. I think the defense did a good job making the zimmerman looking he did kill a boy, a young boy that had a Beautiful Life ahead of him. I feel sorry for both sets of parents. Has this piece on what is next that is in todays usa today here cope he are asking your thoughts on the stand your ground laws. We will get back to your phone calls in a minute. Let me get to other news. Front page of the New York Times this morning this link the piece this morning and arming the syrian rebels. The front page of the washington post, this on the role that Keith Alexander has played as head of the nsa. The headline today of usa today this is in the politics of the nation session of the nation section of the washington post. In egypt, and th in the washinn journal page of thefront Washington Times this morning [captioning performed by national captioning institute] back to our topics about the zimmerman verdict. It democratic caller. Hello. Caller thank you for the topic this morning. I just wanted to touch on one thing about this. I think it is a horrible law. If everybody just takes a chance to go to their computer, use google. There is a man named buddy jacobs on the federal council of the prosecutor attorney association. They are against this law. The conclusion is this law ought to be repealed. Gang members and those dealing with drugs are out there shooting rifles. Regarding George Zimmerman. I have a 23yearold. I think there is something wrong when a teenager comes out teenager goes out to a store and does not come out alive. Virginia,e in independent scholar, hello. Caller good morning. I think the law is ridiculous. It gives irresponsible gun owners the right to take the law into their own hands. There is something fundamentally wrong with that. I used to carry a concealed will a concealed permit. It is too easy to pull out. I almost guarantee that if george did not have that weapon in his hand he probably would not have gone out the car and we would would not be having this discussion. Host what do you mean it is too easy . Caller it makes you braver than what you really are. Host and you caller felt that way carrying the gun . Caller absolutely, and i stopped it. Am i at the point where i need to start carrying it again . It is ridiculous. Be thehat will have to final word on this this morning. Coming up next we will talk withrohit chop with rohit chopra. Later jack gerard will react to the president s climate agenda and the future of the keystone xl pipeline. We w