This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times to discuss the absence and silence of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, school absenteeism with Alec MacGillis of ProPublica, and Donald Trump’s claim of absolute presidential immunity.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Politico: Austin’s hospital debacle: A timeline of events

Fred Kaplan for Slate: Why the Secretary of Defense’s Mysterious Disappearance Means He Needs to Go

Max Boot for The Washington Post: Lloyd Austin doesn’t deserve to be the piñata of the day in Washington

Major General Patrick S. Ryder, Department of Defense Press Secretary

Alec MacGillis for ProPublica and The New Yorker: Skipping School: America’s Hidden Education Crisis

Jay Greene, Ph.D. and Jonathan Butcher for The Heritage Foundation: The Alarming Rise in Teacher Absenteeism

Natalie Kitroeff and Adam Liptak for The New York Times Daily podcast: Trump’s Case for Total Immunity

Bill Rankin and Katherine Landergan for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Could Willis allegations sink Trump case? Legal experts weigh in

Mariana Alfaro and Amy B Wang for The Washington Post: Chris Christie caught on hot mic, says Nikki Haley will ‘get smoked’

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Past Lives and Anatomy of a Fall

Jamelle: Fist of the Condor

David: Amsterdam; EnglishLearning on reddit: Is there any English word that has three or more same and consecutive letters?

Listener chatter from Erin Bumgarner in Arlington, Massachusetts: The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, Emily, and Jamelle talk about which presidents should be on a new Mount Rushmore. See The White House Historical Association: The Presidents; John Quincy Adams; Ulysses S. Grant; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Dwight D. Eisenhower; and Lyndon B. Johnson. See also National Park Service: Why These Four Presidents?; Mario Canseco for Research Co.: Americans Pick Four Presidents for “New Mount Rushmore”; Politico Magazine: Who Should Be on the Next Mount Rushmore?; and Chauncey Alcorn for Capital B: What to Do About Stone Mountain? Black Residents Talk Park’s Racist Past.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with Christine Coulson about her book, One Woman Show: A Novel.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosts

Jamelle Bouie, Emily Bazelon, and David Plotz

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