Another Triathlete Hospitalized After Olympics Swim in Seine
The Belgian triathlon team has forfeited the mixed triathlon finals scheduled for Monday due to an athlete, Claire Michel, being hospitalized after swimming in the Seine River, the country’s Olympic Committee has announced.
The sporting body took jabs at the Paris Olympics organizers, expressing hopes “that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions,” and that there will be no more “uncertainty” for athletes and support personnel.
“The BOIC and Belgian Triathlon must unfortunately announce that the ‘Belgian Hammers’ will not be starting the mixed relay at the Paris Olympic Games tomorrow. The decision, like this communication, was taken in consultation with the athletes and their entourage,” the committee said in a statement.
“Claire Michel, a member of the relay, is unfortunately ill and must withdraw from the competition,” it added.
While the committee did not elaborate, local media reports have suggested that Michel, who has been hospitalized for four days already, was diagnosed with an E.coli bacterial infection. While the athlete apparently fell ill shortly after finishing 38th in the women’s triathlon competition on Wednesday, it has not been positively established that she contracted the bacteria in the murky waters of the Seine.
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The development comes after the Swiss triathlon team said it had to replace triathlete Adrien Briffod with Simon Westermann after the former contracted a gastrointestinal infection. The team noted it was still unclear whether Briffod’s illness was related to the Seine.
The Belgian team has been highly critical of the condition of the Seine, with multiple athletes publicly speaking of their experience. “While swimming under the bridge, I felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much,” Jolien Vermeylen, who finished 24th in Wednesday’s event, said, adding that the waters did not exactly taste like “Coca-Cola or Sprite.”
“The Seine has been dirty for a hundred years, so they can’t say the safety of the athletes is a priority,” she claimed.
The water condition of the highly-polluted river had been a source of widespread concern long before the Games. A $1.5 billion project aimed at cleaning up the Seine yielded mixed results at best and was marred by various mishaps, including the release of a large quantity of sewage into the river shortly before the Olympics.
The French authorities, however, insisted on holding open-water competitions on the Seine, with several senior officials, including French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, taking a swim in the river to demonstrate that it is safe. President Emmanuel Macron, who had also made a half-hearted pledge to take a dip, however, ultimately abstained from doing so.
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Musk PAC Being Investigated in Michigan
A political action committee created and funded by billionaire Elon Musk is being investigated by the Michigan secretary of state’s office over its efforts to collect voter data.
Musk helped create and fund the America PAC, which supports former president Donald Trump.
In July, Musk was reported as saying he would contribute $45 million a month to the PAC for the duration of the election, but he has since distanced himself from Trump and said he would not be contributing such a sum.
The PAC has been acquiring voter information via its website, which includes a form that allows individuals to register to vote; although some links on the website appear to be broken, meaning that the full registration process cannot be completed.
“Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote in Michigan or any other state,” a spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state’s office said in a statement.
“While the America PAC is a federal political action committee, the Department is reviewing their activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law. We will refer potential violations to the Michigan Attorney General’s office as appropriate.”
It’s not clear if any laws have been broken. A former US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan told CNBC, “I am not aware of any laws being broken” by the PAC’s activities.
An insider told CNBC that the America PAC website was fully functioning at one point, but is currently not. A new website will be launched in the coming weeks.
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Crypto Plunges: Bitcoin Down 11% Overnight
The overall value of cryptocurrency plunged on Sunday, falling by $270 billion as investors cashed out of risky assets.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, recorded an 11% drop and Ether a 21% drop. Binance’s BNB is also down 15% and Solana is down 10%.
The plunge in cryptocurrencies is part of a broader fall in equities in the Asia-Pacific market and US. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has fallen by 7% after losses last week and the Bank of Japan’s announcement that it would increase its interest rate to its highest level in 16 years. The US Nasdaq fell by 3.4%, with significant contributions to the decrease coming from Amazon and Nvidia. Disappointing economic performance in the US, including a poor jobs report, growing unemployment and decline in the manufacturing sector, is also to blame.
Bitcoin’s price is now the lowest it’s been since February, at $54,000, which is still a 23% increase this year.
Ether fell to around $2,300, wiping out all of the currency’s gains for the year.
BOMBSHELL PROOF: Acting Secret Service Director Caught In Massive Perjury
RFK Jr. Slumps in Polls as Harris Enters Race
RFK Jr.’s poll numbers have slumped since Kamala Harris entered the race, in a clear sign that most of his voters are simply anti-Biden or anti-Trump.
RFK Jr. had polled at around 15% up until July, but a new CBS poll released on Sunday shows him on 2%.
The poll put Harris on 49% and Trump on 47%.
RFK Jr.’s campaign has faced a number of difficulties, including securing the necessary large amounts of money to sustain months of public events. The campaign has relied heavily on the personal finances of his running-mate, Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google’s billionaire co-founder Sergey Brin.
According to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, “The campaign ended in June with just $5.5 million cash on hand, having spent more money than it raised – almost half of which was provided by Ms Shanahan. By contrast, Ms Harris raised some $200 million in the week after Mr Biden endorsed her as his successor.”
There has also been repeated controversy for Mr Kennedy, including denunciations from his own family, accusations he cooked a dog in South America and now a bizarre story about him dumping a dead bear in Central Park, which Kennedy himself released on Sunday in order to get out ahead of an upcoming piece about him in the New Yorker. Reports also emerged in May that Kennedy claimed a worm had eaten part of his brain.
Suggestions that Kennedy might be preparing to drop out of the race were heightened when footage of a phone call between him and former president Trump was leaked. Trump appeared to suggest that he wanted RFK Jr. to be part of his government.
Kennedy said he was “mortified” by the leak, but he maintained he had no intention of leaving the race.
“When president Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer. I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately,” he said.
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Exclusive: Tommy Robinson Responds To UK Prime Minister’s Call For His Arrest As UK Plunges Into Globalist Planned Civil War
Tommy Robinson joins The Alex Jones Show to break down the escalating violence in the streets of the UK as the government has vowed to crack down against those protesting mass migration while providing unprecedented protection and taxpayer dollars for Muslim gangs targeting whites. Tune in!
Exclusive: Tommy Robinson Responds To UK Prime Minister’s Call For His Arrest As UK Plunges Into Globalist Planned Civil War pic.twitter.com/09zXH5HGC8
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) August 4, 2024
UK REBELLION UNDERWAY: Government Declares War on Its Own Citizens Pushing Back Against UN’s Great Replacement Plan — Sunday Night Live
Chase Geiser lays out the unfolding developments in the UK as the government has openly declared allegiance to Muslim invaders while cracking down on protesters who’ve had enough of the UN’s Great Replacement agenda. Tune in and share this link!