Human Interest

Staff at a zoo in Chile were forced to ‘sacrifice’ two lions to save the life of a  suicidal man who had stripped naked and entered their enclosure in front of aghast visitors. Crowds of shocked tourists, children among them, watched on as the 20-year-old man climbed a fence at the zoo in Santiago and threw himself into the lions pen. Warning: Disturbing Images  Daily Record reports: Extraordinary images from the incident appeared to show the nude man grappling with the lions as visitors watched in horror.

Some were concerned earlier today, when SF Fed's John Williams said that he sees about 2-3 rate hikes in 2016, followed by another 3-4 in 2017, suggesting a grand total between 5 and 7 more rate hikes over the next 18 months. However, those fears were promptly dissiptated when as Williams himself admitted during the reporter Q&A, he - like virtually everyone else at the Fed - has no idea what he is talking about. To wit:

Elijah Wood has claimed that Hollywood is in the grip of a child sexual abuse scandal. The actor who played Frodo Baggins in the lord of the rings said that Hollywood  has been been gripped by cases of sexual abuse similar to the Jimmy Savile scandal in Britain — and that the child abuse is ‘probably still happening’. He told the Sunday Times that there were “a lot of vipers in this industry…there is darkness in the underbelly”. He also said that his mother had protected him from abuse when he became an actor at the age of eight years old but said other young actors had been “preyed upon”.

A Japanese pop star waiting to perform at a venue in Koganei, Tokyo, was repeatedly knifed by an obsessive fan. Mayu Tomita, 20, was stabbed dozens of times in the neck and chest after refusing a gift and remains in a critical condition.  The Independent reports: The singer, who is a college student, suffered nearly two dozen stab wounds to her neck and chest and has yet to gain consciousness according to reports in the Japanese media. Tokyo police said a 27-year-old man, Tomohiro Iwazaki, was arrested at the scene by officers, who seized a blood-covered knife.

View From My Table, Saturday night, Clear Creek Abbey (Photo by Rod Dreher)

Good morning! I’m still at Clear Creek Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in eastern Oklahoma, but I just now have wifi for the first time since Friday afternoon. We are in an exurb of the middle of nowhere. No cell phone service, no nothing. It has been quite the ascetic experience, let me tell you. (And, says my wife, good for me.)