Unvaccinated father of two denied heart transplant – National & International News – WED 26Jan2022

Unvaccinated father of two denied heart transplant. Supreme Court Justice Breyer to retire, reports say. Greece: Thousands of drivers trapped after heavy snowfall.

NATIONAL NEWS

Unvaccinated father of two denied heart transplant

Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston has taken a 31-year-old father of two off the heart transplant recipient list due to his refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the man’s family said. DJ Ferguson suffers from an irregular heartbeat and other heart-related issues. Ferguson remains in hospital, already diagnosed with a life-threatening blood clot. His doctors say that he will need a heart transplant to live, but Ferguson still refuses the vaccine.

While some of Ferguson’s family say he has refused to get the COVID vaccine out of concern for rare side effects like blood clots, his father David portrayed it as more of an ideological stance. David says the vaccine goes against his son’s “basic principles; he doesn’t believe in it”. David also predicted DJ would continue to refuse as he “has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit”.

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Justice Breyer to retire, reports say

According to reports, Justice Stephen Breyer, the oldest member of the Supreme Court, will soon step down, leaving a vacancy on the bench for President Biden to fulfill. This report comes after months of speculation, and even widespread calls from Democrats for Breyer to step aside. Breyer is one of just three liberal justices at the Supreme Court. Those who have despaired of recent decisions by the court’s conservative super majority have hoped that Breyer would step down quickly, and thus hopefully avoid a showdown with the Senate over his replacement.

In the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency, then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prevented Biden from appointing Merrick Garland to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat after the conservative Justice’s death. McConnell threw up no such barrier for former President Trump when Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death left a vacancy on the bench.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Greece: Thousands of drivers trapped after heavy snowfall

From Monday to Tuesday morning, winter storm Elpida blanketed the Greek capital of Athens and much of central Greece in heavy snowfall. Athens experienced a full 24 hours of whiteout conditions. While Northern Greece is quite accustomed to heavy seasonal snowfall, Athens and its environs were caught completely unprepared. As a result, snowfall trapped as many as 4000 drivers on the ring road that traverses Athens from east to west. The military had to come to the rescue of many motorists whose cars had become buried in deep snow. Most drivers abandoned their vehicles and attempted to walk home or seek other shelter on foot.

As of Wednesday, several hundred people are still sheltering in Athens’ international airport. The main road from the airport to the city remains impassible. Thick ice still covers the streets and sidewalks of the city center and its residential neighborhoods. With vehicles still unable to get through, there are worries that neighborhood supermarkets may run out of vital supplies.

Nearby rural areas are in even worse shape. The island of Evvia which experienced devastating wildfires on the summer is now facing a new natural disaster. Villages have been cut off by iced-over roads and fallen trees. Some rural areas and some Athens suburbs have been without power for two days.

There have been calls for conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to step down for his government’s total lack of preparation for the winter storm. Mitsotakis also received much criticism for his failures in managing the wildfires that ravaged the country over the summer.

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