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OK, give us a mini.

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I got a mini.

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Now, you're a fan of a banana every now and then, correct?

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Oh, yeah.

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Yeah, nothing.

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Like, so cheap.

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So plentiful, yeah.

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Oh, yeah.

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So it wouldn't surprise you to know

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that there's blood baked into every banana that

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comes to the grocery store, correct?

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Oh, no, that would surprise me.

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Oh, OK.

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Well, this story comes from Salon.

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It is an article.

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Sorry, I'm just moving this so I think I get a little bit less

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reverb or echo from it.

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I thought you had cheezies.

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I wish I had cheezies.

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No.

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This article comes from Salon posted on July 11th, 2024,

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written by Nan Dika Chanturji.

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Title, Chiquita found liable for paying off right wing death

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squads that killed labor organizers in Colombia.

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I hope this doesn't have to do with bananas.

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I hope this is just totally something

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I decided to talk about bananas first, and then this

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is different.

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It was just a conversation starter,

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because that's what we're good at.

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People know that.

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Chiquita is actually a gorilla that lives at the zoo.

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Very influential.

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I love that name for a gorilla, by the way.

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So Chelsea, are you familiar with the sticker

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that's on all the bananas with the lady with the fruit hat,

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the Chiquita sticker?

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Now I'm feeling nervous.

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OK.

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You're asking me that.

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Chiquita Brands International, the banana giant,

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has been found liable for funding a right wing

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Colombian paramilitary organization, the United

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Self Defense Forces of Colombia, AUC,

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that targeted labor organizers and must now

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pay $38.8 million in damages eligible reported.

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OK, and what's that, like 5% of their profits a year, maybe?

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Oh, god, no, not even.

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Yeah, I don't like that sentence.

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Quote, this historic ruling marks the first time

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that an American jury has held a major US corporation

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liable for complicity in serious human right

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abuses in another country.

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End quote.

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According to a press release from the plaintiff,

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Earth Rights International.

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I'm sorry, I laughed.

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I laughed because this is the first time.

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And how many times have we talked

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about what corporations are doing?

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It's probably the only time, too.

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Let's face it.

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They're going after the big banana.

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Yeah, big banana, which is why the gorillas in the zoo

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are doing it, big Chiquita.

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Anyhow, in 2007, Chiquita admitted in a sentencing

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agreement to paying the AUC protection money from 2001 to 2004.

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Though company representatives insisted

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it was a victim of extortion.

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And my god, if you knew the history of the Banana Republics,

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which has to completely do with Chiquita,

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you would laugh at the fact that they're saying

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they're being extorted. Oh, yeah.

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Chiquita and Banana Republic.

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The whole idea of a Banana Republic

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is a place that the Americans toppled.

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So they have a dictator that was very friendly to banana

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farmers.

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What?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, you didn't know that?

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This whole episode is blowing my mind right now.

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And it's just a mini.

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It's only a mini.

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Yeah.

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So a US court ordered it to make a $25 million fine.

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And the National Security Archives noted,

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and no executives who authorized the payments were identified

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much less prosecuted.

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A six-week long trial at a federal court in Florida

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included testimonies from families of victims,

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Colombian military officials, and Chiquita executives.

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Quote, testifying on May 14, Evans

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described the 2006 summary he created for the plaintiffs

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tracking 10 years of Chiquita's paramilitary payments

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and based exclusively on thousands of internal records

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produced by Chiquita in the case.

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And quote, the National Security Archive noted, quote,

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Evans explained how he sorted through thousands of payments

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request forms, security situation reports, spreadsheets,

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auditing documents, depositions, legal memoranda,

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and other documents from Chiquita's own internal records

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to create the summary, which tracks over 100 payments

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to the AUC, most of them funneled through Convivier,

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self-defense groups that acted as legal fronts

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for the paramilitaries, end quote.

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The claim against Chiquita is the company still paid

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the AUC nearly $2 million by knowing that the paramilitary

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group was engaged in considerable violence,

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kidnapping, extortion, torture, forced disappearances,

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and murder.

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Oh my God.

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The West Palm Beach trial only focused on the nine

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of the cases brought against Chiquita by victims

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of AUC violence among hundreds.

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The jury found the company liable in eight

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of the cases presented.

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I'm very curious about the ninth then.

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That is crazy.

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Nanos.

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It is bananas, I agree.

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Yeah.

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The verdict does not bring back the husbands and sons

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who were killed, but it sets the record straight

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and places accountability for funding terrorism

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where it belongs at Chiquita's doorsteps.

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Said Agnieszka, freesman, a lawyer who represented

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the plaintiffs the New York Times reported,

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according to jurors, Chiquita has failed to act

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as a reasonable business person, and the company

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had knowingly provided substantial assistance

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to the AUC that created a foreseeable risk

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to harm to others.

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And the company had failed to prove that AUC threatened it

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or they had, quote, no reasonable alternative,

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end quote, to paying AUC.

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Chiquita has vowed to appeal the decision,

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and quote, the situation in Columbia was tragic

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for so many.

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However, that does not change our belief

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that there is no legal basis for these claims.

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The company said in a statement per the Times.

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So that's the end of the story.

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Except that they've been found liable.

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In court, yes.

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In court, yes.

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That's such a low standard court.

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And I just wanna say, I just did a quick Google,

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and I have bananas in my kitchen right now

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because they're so cheap, and now I'm like, oh no.

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There's literally nothing that's cheap

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except for bananas. Why are they so cheap?

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But now I'm hoping they are not Chiquita bananas.

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They are definitely Chiquita bananas.

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And their headquarters are in Switzerland.

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Yep.

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They're an American, it literally says.

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Yep.

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They're an American company.

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Yep.

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And Chelsea, you should look up what name Chiquita went by

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prior to the 1990s.

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Yeah, United Fruit Co.

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Yep, and you should look up the history of United Fruit Co.

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And how they toppled so many

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democratically elected Central American countries,

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the Americans on behalf of the United Fruit Co.

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So that they could just get free land

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in Ecuador, Guatemala.

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That's just off the top of my head

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that they put a dictatorship in place for.

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So it sounds like we need to do an episode on bananas.

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I thought it was common knowledge,

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but we might have to do a banana episode.

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Oh no, I didn't know anything about this.

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I thought the bananas that I was eating

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had no blood on their hands.

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Okay.

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That's why they're so cheap.

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Also, I do like the fact that a pack

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or a bushel of bananas is called a hand.

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So good play on words there.

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This is not the first time Banana Republic

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has come up in this series either.

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It has not.

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We have brought up Banana Republic.

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It has not.

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Okay.

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When? Tell me precisely when.

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I also, I also.

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Maybe in the episode.

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I would have to look back,

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but I'm fairly certain it has come up before.

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00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:39,400
I also do just want to point out

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that I find it very interesting

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that they're saying they were being extorted

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by AUC to pay them.

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And the AUC was murdering unions.

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No, not business people,

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00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:50,480
but you know, in fact,

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00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,320
the very essence of enemies of business people.

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00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:55,640
So what a weird coincidence.

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00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:56,600
It's very weird.

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And if anything, I believe big banana.

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00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:01,840
No, I can't.

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00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,960
I can't after this episode.

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00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,040
I will never look at bananas the same.

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00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:07,280
That's, okay.

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00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,600
Now that I know that bananas are called a hand.

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00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:10,840
I will look.

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00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:11,680
A hand of bananas.

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00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:12,520
I'm just going to look at them.

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00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:13,680
That's when they're grouped together.

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00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,000
It's a hand.

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00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,800
Yeah. They look like fingers.

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00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:17,640
Yeah.

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00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:18,480
It's so creepy.

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00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,680
And they got blood on those fingers.

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00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,080
No.

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00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:23,280
Yeah.

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I hate that.

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00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:26,400
Anyhow, so much blood.

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00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:28,360
Weird dictatorship problems.

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00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:29,520
I thought this was common knowledge.

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00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:31,360
Apparently we might have to do an episode on it,

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00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:33,840
but it will not be in the next 48 hours,

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00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,480
but you do still need to come back for it.

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00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:37,560
Oh, yeah.

229
00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:41,200
Eventually for that and in 48 hours for something else.

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00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:42,920
Uh-huh.

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00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:43,760
Yeah.

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00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:44,600
Yeah.

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I'm just leaving you with crunching eyes.