The Motorola MPx wireless device which is designed to be multi-functional phone with Wi-Fi, General Packet Radio Service technologies, and a fully functioning keyboard.; Credit: Getty Images/Getty Images

New tech gadgets seem like the perfect stocking stuffers, but not for a small sector of neo-luddites whose loyalty for whatever outdated technology they own is unshakable. You know those people, those with old flip phones from the early 2000s that aren’t connected to the internet or prefer to watch Monday Night Football on their non-plasmas, non-HD television sets. To be fair, they aren’t just your technophobic grandparents.

According to a recent Financial Times article, some of wealthiest and most powerful people in the European business world have hung on to their old gadgets. Why? “It works, never breaks, has a long battery life,” Julian Dunkerton, CEO of SuperGroup, the international clothing brand, told the newspaper. Even President Obama is a tech holdout when it comes to his mobile communication needs, he is  apparently stuck with his Blackberry for security reasons.

How about you? Have you held on to a piece of old technology that you find yourself unable or unwilling to get rid of? Why?

Guest:

Evan Koblentz, computer historian at the InfoAge Science Center--a science history museum in Wall , New Jersey 

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is urging the court to uphold California's DNA collection law as a constitutional law enforcement tool.; Credit: Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images

Today, an 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will hear oral arguments on a controversial California law that requires police to collect DNA samples from every arrestee.

Voters passed the law in 2004 and the law went into effect in 2009. Law enforcement officials say that the mandatory requirement would make it easier to solve old cold cases. Both California Attorney General Kamala Harris and President Obama are supportive of the bill. Opponents argue the law is too broad and DNA collection should be limited to those who are arrested for violent and serious offenses.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Proposition 69 charging that it’s unconstitutional.  

Guests:

Roberta Schwartz, Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office

Peter Bibring,  Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 15: Attendees work on laptops during the Google I/O developers conference at the Moscone Center on May 15, 2013 in San Francisco, California. ; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The nation's biggest tech companies including Google, Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo have teamed up to call on the US government to fight harder against online spying. Usually rivals, the companies want one thing - less government surveillance.

Together they published an open letter in several newspapers including the New York Times asking Congress and the Obama administration to enact reforms of the National Security Agency surveillance practices that went public after former contractor Edward Snowden leaked some of them to the press. The companies claim they're "keeping users' data secure" by using the "latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized surveillance".

Many Americans share the same concerns about expansive government spying. Will this unlikely tech alliance be able to convince Congress to take action? Are their concerns and demands reasonable? Many of these tech companies including Google are also criticized for collecting and using too much user data. Is this request hypocritical? Are you comfortable with the level of NSA surveillance if it helps thwart terrorism concerns?

Guest:

Kim Zetter, Senior Reporter at Wired

BERLIN - SEPTEMBER 04: Visitors look at miniature camcorders at the Flip Video stand on opening day at the IFA technology trade fair in 2009 in Berlin, Germany.; Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Modern-day peeping Toms use smartphones to sneak videos of unsuspecting women in change rooms, restrooms, even women wearing skirts as they walk up stairs and escalators.

Last week, a Kansas woman discovered a man video-recording her as she tried on bras in a Kohl's dressing room. In the shocking moment, while she was still topless, she ran after him shouting for help. He was arrested.

From upskirt videos to aggressive catcalls to groping in crowded public places and transit, how should victims respond? What's the risk in confronting the perpetrator or in letting it go?

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Guest

Ilse Knecht, Deputy Director, Public Policy, National Center for Victims of Crime

Federal drug offenders who are convicted after a trial receive sentences three-times longer than those who accept plea deals, according to a Human Rights Watch report. ; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Drug offenders are waiving their right to trial due to fears over tough minimum sentences, according to a new Human Rights Watch report.

Ninety-seven percent of federal drug defendants agree to plea bargains with an average prison sentence of 5 years. The penalty for similar offenses that go to trial carry prison terms of 16 years.

In 1990, 84% of federal cases resulted in a plea bargain. Prosecutors often charge drug defendants with crimes that carry high mandatory sentences, leaving judges with little choice than to mete out harsh punishments to defendants found guilty.

Attorney General Eric Holder has called on prosecutors to stop charging defendants in a manner that triggers these mandatory minimums. Critics of the high number of plea bargains say the extremely harsh sentences that result from going to trial could pressure the innocent into pleading guilty.

Should drug and other offenders be offered plea bargains? If you've been the victim of a crime, would you prefer the criminal to face a public trial? If you've been a defendant in a case, did you feel pressure to plead guilty? And do you now wish you'd face a trial?

Guests:

Jackie Lacey, District Attorney, Los Angeles County

Lynne Lyman, California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance

Leroy Baca (R), Sheriff of Los Angeles County, Melvin Bledsoe (L), and Abdirizak Bihi (C), director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center testify before the Committee on Homeland Security on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 10, 2011. ; Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The Justice Department indicted 18 L.A. County Sheriff's deputies yesterday in connection with separate instances of alleged misconduct, including inmate abuse, false arrests and obstruction of justice. Sixteen of the deputy sheriffs were taken into custody rather than given an opportunity to surrender voluntarily.

United States Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said, “Our investigation also found that these incidents did not take place in a vacuum – in fact, they demonstrated behavior that had become institutionalized. The pattern of activity alleged in the obstruction of justice case shows how some members of the Sheriff’s Department considered themselves to be above the law."  

In turn, L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca countered that there is no institutional problem at the department.In a press conference Baca said, "While the indictments were not unexpected, it is nevertheless, a sad day for this department. We do not tolerate misconduct by any deputies." Are these indictments just the first of more to come? What oversight is needed at the Sheriff's Department?

Guests:

Brian Moriguchi, Professional Peace Officers Association (union representing some of the arrested Sheriff’s Dept. personnel)

André Birotte Jr., U.S. State Attorney for the Central Region of California, Department of Justice.; Birotte was a public defender in Los Angeles at the time of the riots; former Inspector General of the L.A.P.D.

Water is held back from a lower-elevation farm (R) by a section of Highway 4 that serves as a levee road in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, west of Stockton, California. ; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

Drafts of the Environmental Impact Statement for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan were released Monday and have renewed debate on the $24.7 billion plan. The goal of the BDCP is to improve the condition and conservation of the diverse ecosystem that exists in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta while creating an efficient water delivery system. The plan, which is supported by Governor Jerry Brown, proposes to build a tunnel system to bypass the Delta while providing water to other areas in the state.

How will the Bay Delta Conservation Plan impact the ecology of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta?  What are the benefits of the plan? Will you be providing comment on the EIS?

The public comment period on the Environmental Impact Statement for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan will begin on Friday, December 14, and will run until April 14, 2014.

Guests:

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta

Paul Helliker, Deputy Director, California Department of Water Resources

A general view of atmosphere before the TIME's 2010 Person of the Year Panel at Time & Life Building on November 10, 2010 in New York, New York. ; Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for TIME Inc.

TIME Magazine has released its top 10 finalists for the publication’s “Person of the Year” awards. The 2013 shortlist includes N.S.A. leaker Edward Snowden, pop star Miley Cyrus, Jesuit pontiff Pope Francis and Syrian President Bashar Assad. .

The winner will be announced Wednesday. The prestigious title is given to “the person who’s had the most impact on events this year for better or for worse,” according to TIME Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs.

President Barack Obama made this year’s list—after earning to top honor in 2012 and 2008. Also on the list: DOMA plaintiff Edith Windsor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Aside from Obama, winners in recent years include Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Bernanke, Vladimir Putin and some more abstract selections including “The Protestor” and “You.”  

The true winner is always chosen by TIME editors, but readers are invited to weigh in online. This year’s readers’ choice was Egyptian General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Who do you think had the biggest impact on 2013? Are there any names on this year’s list that don’t belong? And who’s missing from the list?

Mary Barra, who was just named the new CEO of General Motors, speaks onstage at the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit on October 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for FORTUNE

General Motors has named product development chief Mary Barra as the company’s new CEO—making her the first woman to head a major U.S. car company.

RELATED: General Motors' first female chief executive shatters glass ceiling

Barra, 51, has a long history with GM, beginning with the company as an electrical engineering co-op student in 1980. She rose steadily through the GM ranks since, working as a plant manager, an executive director of engineering, head of the GM’s human resources operations and other posts.

The announcement of Barra’s new role comes one day after the U.S. Treasury Department announced it has sold the last of its remaining 31.1 million GM shares. It started with 500 million shares in 2010.

Barra is the daughter of a GM tool-and-die maker who earned her MBA from Stanford University. She was one of a handful of internal candidates considered to take over for CEO Dan Akerson.

What do you think of Barra’s rise within GM’s ranks? What will the first woman running a major automaker do differently?

Guest:

Jim Tankersley, Economic Policy Correspondent, The Washington Post

Keith Naughton, Bloomberg News Autos Reporter  

Los Angeles Police department officers look on as a large march by service employees and members from several other unions on the main thoroughfare to the entrance of Los Angeles International Airport during a large protest a day before Thanksgiving, November 21, 2012. ; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Police Department is having a tough time finding qualified candidates that want to join the force, despite hitting its long-stated goal of hiring 10,000 officers less than a year before.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the decline started several months ago, resulting in a staff shortfall of some 100 officers at the LAPD. Attrition accounts for about 350 vacant positions every year and officials warn that  the effects of understaffing could be felt for years to come if the trend persists. As a result of under-recruitment fewer women and blacks are making it into the the training academy, causing the department to miss its diversity targets.

Several factors contribute the problem. Less people are interested in joining the LAPD, firstly, and top candidates are being lured away by other law enforcement agencies that offer higher pay. Budget cuts also figure into the equation, taking away the money needed to put up recruitment ads on billboards, radio and television.

Guest:

Sandy Jo MacArthur, LAPD Assistant Chief

A student on his way to school walks past a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) school, in Los Angeles, California.; Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Under a new state law this year, school districts with a high percentage of low-income and English-as-a-second-language students are eligible for extra funding. In order to qualify for that money, the California Department of Education is asking districts to provide family income verification to ensure that the money is distributed fairly. School district officials, including LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, want the new requirement waived, arguing that the step is redundant given that they already verify family income of students every four years for the federally subsidized meal program.

Guest:

John Deasy, Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District

Public pay phone booths stand empty inside Grand Central Stationin New York, April 09, 2012.; Credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

When was the last time you heard that distinctive clunk of a pay phone hanging up? Or the screech of a modem coming to life?

They're the sounds we lived with for decades and once represented cutting edge technology. But as our world gets more connected and our technology gets quieter, these sounds may soon be lost forever.

Technology makers are increasingly trying to make silent products that don't annoy consumers (remember that Nokia ringtone, anyone?) but what will be lost without the audible reminders that our products are doing their jobs?

That thunk of a cassette tape sliding into a VCR or the shutter click of a manual camera were comforting because we knew our technology was working.

What sounds of technology past do you miss hearing? Will they be replaced with the "bleep" of an iPhone keypad? Gmail chat notifications?

Guest:

Roberto Baldwin, reporter at Wired

People react during a Rihanna concert at the Stade-de-France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on June 8, 2013. ; Credit: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

Ours has become a culture that frames all experiences through the rectangle of a camera viewfinder. How many times have you seen someone holding up a phone to take a picture at a concert, an event, a tourist spot instead of just being there and taking things in? Our impulse to record every moment of our lives is not only making us less present, a new study published in the journal Psychological Science finds that it also makes less likely to remember the very thing, the very experience, we are trying to capture.

Guest:

Linda Henkel, Professor of Psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut and author of the study

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) walk past the Senate chamber on their way to a press conference to announce a bipartisan budget deal, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, at the U.S. Capitol on December 10, 2013 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images

It's finally happened - a Republican and a Democrat have come together and agreed on a 2-year budget agreement. It still needs to get through a contentious House vote but so far its prospects are promising. The agreement was the brainchild of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. The budget has a little something for each side but no one was a clear winner here. It cuts the deficit by $23 billion but also sets new higher spending levels for the next two years. That'll replace the automatic spending cuts set to take effect in the new year. After years of fighting across the aisle it's a major accomplishment that Ryan and Murray were even able to come up with an agreement. So how did it happen? What is it about Ryan and Murray that made them work well together? Will each side have the political power to convince their respective parties to actually vote for the bill? Is this a sign of a political thaw between Republicans and Democrats?

Guests:

Rachel Van Dongen, Congressional reporter for POLITICO

Jim Brunner, political reporter for the Seattle Times

People stand in a line that stretched around the block to enter a job fair held at the Jewish Community Center in March 2012 in New York City. Congress has until December 28th to extend unemployment benefits. ; Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

An eligible unemployed worker could typically receive up to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits. Congress put in place the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program in 2008 that extended jobless benefits to long-term unemployed workers for up to 99 weeks. The program has been renewed multiple times since.

The deadline for this year’s extension is December 28 and 1.3 million Americans would be affected if the program expires. President Obama has called on Congress to push through the extension, which has become a sticking point in the latest budget deal negotiations between the two parties to avoid another government shutdown. Democrats vowing to vote down any budget proposal without a jobless benefits extension, but many Republicans are resistant to the idea. Their rationale could best be summed up by senator Rand Paul’s characterization of an extension as being a “disservice” to workers.

With November’s better-than-expected jobs report and the current national unemployment rate at a 5-year low of 7%, should extended unemployment benefits be continued?

Guests: 

Gary Burtless, a senior fellow of Economic Studies at Brookings Institution. He worked as an economist at the US Department of Labor from 1979 to 1981

Casey Mulligan, Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago and the author of “The Redistribution Recession: How Labor Market Distortions Contracted the Economy (Oxford University Press, 2012)

An unidentified police officer writes a ticket on N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, CA. ; Credit: Chris Yarzab/Flickr

Eleven LAPD officers who claim they were forced to meet a quota of traffic citations each shift have been awarded nearly $6 million in a settlement that was approved by the  L.A. City Council on Tuesday.

RELATED: Los Angeles to settle officers' lawsuits for $6M

The officers allege their superiors imposed a secret quota system to boost the number of tickets even though those quotas violate state law. Two lawsuits claim Capt. Nancy Lauer required officers in  the West Traffic Division motorcycle unit to write at least 18 tickets each shift with at least 80 percent of them being for major violations.

The settlement brings the total of taxpayer money spent on payouts and legal fees from the case to $10 million. The settlement decision follows a 2011 jury award of $2 million to two motorcycle officers in a similar case.

The LAPD denies it used quotas and Chief Charlie Beck described them as "goals" to reduce traffic accidents.

"It is unfortunate that this case cost the city hard-earned taxpayers money," Beck said in a statement. "The goal has always been to improve the productivity and accountability of our officers in order to reduce serious and fatal traffic collisions."

Beck said that the West Traffic Division gave officers the goal of spending 80 percent of their time on traffic code violations that could lead to serious injuries or deaths, but that, "this was not a quota system under the law."

Weigh In: Should taxpayers be on the hook for the LAPD's mistakes? Should issues like this be handled inside the LAPD without going to court? Does this confirm many Angeleno's suspicions that officers write more tickets because of quotas?

Guest: 

Dennis Zine, former City Council member who served 33 years with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), 18 years on a motorcycle

With contributions from the Associated Press

A girl waves a South African flag while watching the official memorial service for Nelson Mandela on a large screen inside the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, on December 10, 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa. ; Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

It was an emotional memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg yesterday - from the inspiring to the sour. South Africans booed their president, Jacob Zuma, who has presided over state corruption scandals. The rowdiness in the stadium crowd, prompted loud pleading from retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu:  “I want to show the world we can come out here and celebrate the life of an icon. You must show the world that we are disciplined. I want to hear a pin drop." The world is watching South Africa this week, as the memorial continues and looking for signs of whether Mandela's passing was a catalyst - and if so, for good or bad. His death reminds South Africans of the promises made after apartheid, and promises unfulfilled. What has become of the post-Apartheid slogan for "Peace, jobs, justice?" 

Guest:

Edward Alpers, Research Professor of history at UCLA.  history with a focus on Africa formerly based at the UCLA. He's followed Nelson Mandela's career through the decades and was one of the participants in the Nelson Mandela tribute in Los Angeles in 1990.

Frank Wilderson, Professor, UC Irvine - African American Studies and Drama departments; Wilderson lived in South Africa in the early 90s and was the second American ever elected to the African National Congress.

A job seeker holds a job application during the San Francisco Hirevent job fair at the Hotel Whitcomb in March 2012 in San Francisco, California.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim is proposing to eliminate this question of virtually all job applications in San Francisco.  Kim would like to amend the city’s current ban by expanding it to include most private employers, publicly funded housing providers and city contractors.  Already, 10 states and over 50 cities have adopted a version of “ban the box” and more private employers support the ban.   Is disclosure of a criminal history necessary or is it preventing otherwise qualified and competent applicants from earning employment?  How would eliminating this question from the job application process impact those convicted of crimes?  

Guest: 

Elizabeth Milito, Senior Executive Counsel, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service firefighter Corey Adams sits on a tree stump as he monitors the Rim Fire on August 25, 2013 near Groveland, California.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 The 2013 wildfire season was the deadliest in 20 years for firefighters across the country after the tragic Yarnell fire that killed 19 people in Arizona.

 In California, the large, fast-moving Rim Fire caught the nation's attention as it scorched through 402 square miles across the Yosemite and Stanislaus National forests.Despite the huge habitat and wildland loss from that single fire, the overall amount of land burned in the state was actually below average.

Dire warnings about dry weather and fierce winds never materialized and the amount of land burned this year was less than the 10-year average. The Santa Ana winds did not blow with their usual strength keeping smaller fires from spreading.

Why was this wildfire season better than expected? Is it possible to predict how bad a fire season will be? How are state fire officials preparing for next year?

Guest:

Julie Hutchinson, Battalion Chief with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)

Director of the National Security Agency Gen. Keith Alexander, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, and general counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Robert Litt testify during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.; Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The U.S. intelligence community has been under scrutiny this year like never before. Leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have shed light on the wide expanse of power the country's top spy agencies have both abroad and over their own citizens.

One Democratic Senator, Ron Wyden, has been fighting for years to get the NSA to open up about their domestic spying programs and he’s starting to gain momentum. Wyden has put forth a bill to put limits on the NSA's surveillance programs and to reform the court that oversees them.

California Democrat Dianne Feinstein has proposed her own competing bill that allows the programs and says the risks of terrorism outweigh privacy concerns. President Obama could be the deciding vote in this contentious issue about how widespread the NSA's powers should be.

But will he pick a side? Will the Snowden leaks provide the momentum to make changes in domestic spying laws? Do terrorism concerns take precedence over the right to privacy?

Guests:

Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for The New Yorker

Cedric Leighton, founder and president of Cedric Leighton Associates, a risk and leadership management consultancy. He is also a retired colonel in the US Air Force and the former Director for Training of the National Security Agency.