Bananas: cheap, cheerful... and covered in blood. This week, we peel back the sickly sweet skin of the banana industry to uncover CIA coups, corporate death squads, and a century of colonial capitalism. From United Fruit to Chiquita, it’s not just fruit—it’s a crime scene in a peel. Thanks to Tony Guacamole for the tip.

Before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and rainbow capitalism, there was the Lavender Scare—a government-backed witch hunt targeting LGBTQ+ federal employees as threats to national security. In this episode, we uncover how Cold War paranoia collided with homophobia, turning queerness into a crime of patriotism. From surveillance and mass firings to one man’s fight that helped spark a movement, we trace the eerie parallels between 1950s propaganda and today’s anti-trans legislation and drag bans. History doesn’t repeat—it legislates.

Before Pride, before Stonewall, before RuPaul’s Drag Race—there was William Dorsey Swann. Born into slavery in 1860, Swann became the first self-proclaimed drag queen in American history and led a radical movement of joy, defiance, and survival in the heart of post-Civil War Washington D.C.

In this episode, we dive into the miraculous story of America’s first queer freedom fighter—a man who threw drag balls when the world threw chains. Inspired by Bob the Drag Queen’s Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, this is a powerful exploration of identity, resistance, and the hidden legacies of Black queer liberation.