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Few were betting that a group of workers on Staten Island could win union recognition at their Amazon warehouse. Now that they’ve done it, can they replicate this win at other shops across the country? And what will the nation’s largest unions do to help Amazon workers join the labor movement?Guest: Steven Greenhouse, senior fellow at the Century Foundation and author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the beginning of the pandemic, Congress loosened the rules around school lunch programs, and approved additional funding to help schools provide more meals to more kids. But those allowances are set to expire on June 30th, leaving schools desperate for help as they anticipate a future of less funding and less flexibility. Guest: Helena Bottemiller Evich, senior food and agriculture reporter at POLITICO.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has become an avatar of the Republican far-right. But that has its downsides. It makes you a target. But Greene isn’t running scared.  Guest: Charles Bethea, staff writer at the New Yorker. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly a decade, Margrethe Vestager has led Europe's efforts to rein in big tech. One newspaper article described Vestager as putting the fear of God into Silicon Valley. How is she thinking about fairness in tech in 2022?Guest: Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Europe fit for the Digital Age Host: Lizzie O'Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Rock is back on tour, days after Will Smith struck him and won his first Oscar in the same night. While the Academy strongly condemned Smith, several Black stars and writers have publicly defended him, or even applauded him for standing up for his wife. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson talks with entertainment journalist Chris Witherspoon about how race is playing out in the debate over what happened, and what should happen next.Guest: Chris Witherspoon, entertainment journalist and founder/CEO of @PopViewers. Podcast production by Sam KimYou can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt spend over a decade building relationships with the most powerful Democrats in America?Guest: Alex Thompson, reporter at Politico Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is having a moment. The alliance dates back to the early years of the Cold War, and ever since, it has seesawed in and out of favor with Western leaders. But now, as Russia continues to wage its attack on Ukraine, NATO has assumed some of its old relevance.Guest: Mary Elise Sarotte, professor of Historical Studies at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. She’s also a research associate at Harvard University's Center for European Studies. Her most recent book is Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, the co-host of Slate’s internet culture podcast ICYMI, Rachelle Hampton sits down with Slate associate editor and romance author, Marissa Martinelli to talk about romance novels and, of course, the television show Bridgerton. In the first half, they dig into the longstanding race and gender politics at play within the romance writing community and gatekeeping, why we need more Short Kings and Fat Women in romance, and of course…Fabio. Then they get into the Netflix phenomenon, Bridgerton and talk about the problematic dynamics the show didn’t sort out when it “solved” racism, why making Daphne pretty ruined season one for Rachelle, and how season two kinda, sorta, almost cured some of the problems of season one.  In Slate Plus, are corsets feminist? Recommendations:Marissa: The romance novel book club podcast, Hot and Bothered. Rachelle: Season one of Netflix’s Virgin River.  Further Reading:Dangerous Books for Girls by Maya Rodale“Inside the List” by Gregory Cowels “How Bridgerton Touches on Colonialism in India” by Desiree Ibekwe“The Biggest Changes Between Bridgerton Season 2, and The Steamy, Ridiculous Book It’s Based On” by Marissa Martinelli “Under the Covers” by Anne Wallentine “One Romance Novelist’s Fight for Diverse Love Stories” by Rachelle Hampton Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus and June Thomas. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is a fervent right-wing activist. She was also a supporter of the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, as evidenced by a batch of texts shared with the congressional committee investigating January 6th. The Ginni Thomas texts create a conflict of interest for Justice Clarence Thomas as he hears cases pertaining to the insurrection. But the Supreme Court is not expected to do much to dispel notions of bias. Why?Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After more than 70 weeks on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100, Dua Lipa and her song “Levitating” have run into trouble: two separate copyright complaints claiming the pop star ripped off other artists in writing her hit. These aren’t the first lawsuits to test the boundaries of what counts as plagiarism in the musical realm; and if either suit succeeds, it will have far-reaching consequences for creativity in the industry.Guest: Jeremy Orosz, associate professor of music theory at the University of Memphis.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices