American Lives Are Long, Unhappy

Hamilton Nolan · 07/11/13 03:21PM

The good news is that Americans are living longer. The bad news is that our extended time on this patch of earth is increasingly marked by the ceaseless, ever-building procession of misery. At least we have cable.

Britney Spears Flirts With Smurfs, Her Sons in Her New Video

Rich Juzwiak · 07/11/13 01:50PM

It's just a normal day at the movies for Britney Spears and her sons, Sean and Jayden, in the video for her Smurfs 2 single, "Ooh La La." They have popcorn, they have soda, they have hair gel. Britney stage whispers to her sons while a small girl eavesdrops behind them, because you know that movie is boring as shit.

Wal-Mart Is Scared of These True Stories From Its Own Employees

Hamilton Nolan · 07/11/13 01:00PM

Earlier this week, we published a new installment of our occasional series of true stories from Wal-Mart workers. The company was so displeased with its employees speaking publicly that they posted a plea on an internal website asking other employees to send us positive stories. We've gotten quite a few stories. But most aren't positive at all.

Tom Scocca · 07/11/13 11:56AM

The jury in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin will also be allowed to consider manslaughter charges, judge Debra Nelson ruled today. The judge has yet to rule on the prosecution's request that the jury also consider charges of third-degree felony murder—on the grounds that Zimmerman's violent confrontation with an unarmed teenager was an act of child abuse. UPDATE: The third-degree felony murder charges have now been ruled out.

Maggie Lange · 07/11/13 11:40AM

Sam Mendes, director of the 2012's James Bond installment Skyfall, has just signed on to direct James Bond 24, set for release in the fall of 2015. Daniel Craig will continue to play Bond, John Logan is writing the script.

Eliot Spitzer Missed a Spot

Nitasha Tiku · 07/11/13 11:10AM

The crowd of reporters outside the Lipstick Building yesterday evening crammed close enough to Eliot Spitzer to spot a patch of salt-and-pepper stubble that the disgraced former governor had missed on the underside of his otherwise clean-shaven chin. Spitzer—who stammered a bit when a passerby yelled “ELIOT, YOUR DATE IS HERE!”—was on his way into a “petitioning party” at building’s ground floor restaurant.

Hamilton Nolan · 07/11/13 10:43AM

"Scabby," the giant inflatable rat that the Teamsters union sets up to protest nonunion workplaces, was stabbed by a scab in Chicago last weekend. The Rat Stab Scab was arrested. The judge on the case is named "Adam Bourgeois."

Top Spy's Sexy Emails Hacked

Max Read · 07/11/13 10:20AM

Over a 32-year career with the Defense Intelligence Agency, Roy Apseloff worked as the organization's Deputy CIO, Vice Deputy Director for Information Management, and director of its National Media Exploitation Center. None of that, apparently, adequately prepared him for his personal—and very sexy—email getting hacked.