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The Super Bowl delivered its smallest audience among adults 18-49 in at least ten years. Super Bowl 51 between the Patriots and Falcons delivered a 37.1 rating and 47.6 million viewers in the adults 18-49 demographic, down 2% in ratings and a fraction of a percent in viewership from Broncos/Panthers last year (37.7, 47.9M) and down 5% and 4% respectively from Patriots/Seahawks in 2015 (39.1, 49.7M). It was the lowest rated Super Bowl in the demo since Steelers/Cardinals in 2009 (36.7) and the least-watched in at least a decade. Since hitting 52.5 million in 2011, Super Bowl viewership among adults...

In the 47 years between 1964 and 2011, just three states adopted a right-to-work law – Louisiana (1976), Idaho (1985) and Oklahoma (2001). But in the last five years, five more states have made it illegal for employers to make workers pay unions as a condition of employment: Indiana (2012), Michigan (2013), Wisconsin (2015), West Virginia (2016) and Kentucky (2017). In the opening days of its 2017 legislative session, Missouri took a step toward becoming the 29th right-to-work state, when its Republican-controlled House approved a bill to adopt the policy. Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana all passed right-to-work laws when...

“With slight shades of difference,” wrote George Washington in 1796, Americans “have the same religion, manners, habits and political principles. That is no longer true."

Our Dying Universities Msgr. Charles Pope • February 5, 2017 • The last vestiges of the once impressive institution known as the “university” are disappearing as our culture continues to crumble. Perhaps it is poetic justice, since the universities themselves have been a central cause of the cultural collapse that is burying them.The recent riots at the University of California at Berkeley and on other campuses are the result of a decades-long process that has increasingly sought to silence opinions or facts that are at odds with liberalism. Most universities have become indoctrination centers that tolerate little if any...

Over the past 10-years personal income in the US has increased at a 3.39% annualized rate which is the slowest 10-year annualized growth rate since the data began in 1960. Clearly, there has been a ‘stair-step’ decline in the growth rate of personal income over the past several decades. In the 1980s personal income averaged a 9.5% annualized growth rate, in the 1990s it averaged a 6.4% annualized growth rate, and in the 2000s it averaged a 5.2% annualized growth rate. Thus far in the 2010s, the average annualized growth rate has fallen to 3.9%. [..snip..]

Pastor Steve Cioccolanti is declaring the start of global revival. This teaching begins an important series on Good Government called "Is America a Christian Nation?" available at http://www.discover.org.au/bookshop To understand the immigration problem & global terror threat, watch these videos on WW3: https://discover.org.au/bookshop/inde...

The number of Americans who don’t ascribe to any religion grew significantly during Obama’s eight years in office, according to a recent Pew Research report on how the country changed during the Obama era.U.S. President Barack Obama (L) stands with Pope Francis during an arrival ceremony for the pope at the White House in Washington September 23, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst “When it comes to the nation’s religious identity, the biggest trend during Obama’s presidency is the rise of those who claim no religion at all. Those who self-identify as atheists or agnostics, as well as those who say their religion...

Baby Boomers: your millennial children are worse off than you. With a median household income of $40,581, millennials earn 20 percent less than boomers did at the same stage of life, despite being better educated, according to a new analysis of Federal Reserve data by the advocacy group Young Invincibles. The analysis being released Friday gives concrete details about a troubling generational divide that helps to explain much of the anxiety that defined the 2016 election. Millennials have half the net worth of boomers. Their home ownership rate is lower, while their student debt is drastically higher. The generational gap...

Leadership consultant Simon Sinek has been told that millennials – people born after 1982 – are 'entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused and lazy' - but he believes it is not their fault. The author's response to the 'millennial question' on Inside Quest 'broke the internet' after he revealed why many young people may display the undesirable qualities listed by their bosses. He explained millennials grew up in an environment where 'every child wins a prize' only to find the 'real world' after school is much different. Where they were told they were special all the time, they were told they could...

A Canadian study found that conservative churches are still growing, while less orthodox congregations dwindle away.Mainline Protestant churches are in trouble: A 2015 report by the Pew Research Center found that these congregations, once a mainstay of American religion, are now shrinking by about 1 million members annually. Fewer members not only means fewer souls saved, a frightening thought for some clergy members, but also less income for churches, further ensuring their decline. Faced with this troubling development, clergy members have made various efforts to revive church attendance. It was almost 20 years ago that John Shelby Spong, a U.S....

Retailers are bracing for a fresh wave of store closures at the start of the new year. The industry is heading into 2017 with a glut of store space as shopping continues to shift online and foot traffic to malls declines, according to analysts ~SNIP~Nearly every major department store, including Macy's, Kohl's, Walmart, and Sears, have collectively closed hundreds of stores over the last couple years to try and stem losses from unprofitable stores and the rise of ecommerce. But the closures are far from over. Macy's has already said that it's planning to close 100 stores, or about 15%...

In recent years, somewhere between endless Tinder swipes and countless OkCupid matches, the dinner date has fallen by the wayside. As online dating surges in popularity, few millennials have the time, money, or desire to sit with a stranger over a long meal. Only 7 in 10,000 messages in a recent OkCupid IAC survey suggested “grabbing some dinner” and a somewhat less scientific survey this reporter conducted of several dozen actively dating 20-somethings found that dinner has become a highly taboo first date. Last month, Moody’s Investors Service slashed its operating-profit growth forecast for the restaurant sector. (This appears to...

Americans see themselves as people on the move. When the going gets tough or when opportunity beckons, we get up and go. We move around a lot. Actually, we don't -- or don't nearly so much as we used to. The percentage of Americans moving every year is less than half that of a half-century ago and down significantly since the early 1990s. Some of that decline is a response to the economic cycle. Contrary to widespread impression, mobility tends to decline in bad economic times. The Okies moving from the Dust Bowl to the Central Valley of California made...

Beer is without question, like Pizza, Madonna, and fast cars, an icon of modern American culture. That the white working class American male is stereotypically referred to as "Joe Six-pack" is but one example of the dominance of beer as lower and middle- class America's preferred alcoholic beverage. But this was not always the case. 150 years ago, in the 1840s, hard cider held the position now held by beer as the preferred alcoholic beverage of the working class. But somehow, by the end of the 19th century and well before Prohibition, Cider all but disappeared in the United States....

IN ONE OF the most incisive pieces of post-election pop culture so far, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live school an election night party full of blithely ignorant white liberals on the deep, persistent currents of American racism. “Because of changing demographics, there might never be another Republican president in this country,” cast member Beck Bennett says in the sketch. Chappelle glares at him, dumbfounded. “Word?” he says. “You ever been around this country before?” The gag of course is the fact that, as a black man, Chappelle has seen the country at its ugliest, its least...

TylerDurdenDecember 23,2016 Just over six years ago, in December of 2010, we wrote "Charting America's Transformation To A Part-Time Worker Society", in which we predicted - and showed - that in light of the underlying changes resulting from the second great depression, whose full impacts remain masked by trillions in monetary stimulus and soon, perhaps fiscal, America is shifting from a traditional work force, one where the majority of new employment is retained on a full-time basis, to a "gig" economy, where workers are severely disenfranchised, and enjoy far less employment leverage, job stability and perks than their pre-crash peers....

Gun ownership has traditionally been associated with the right wing in America but the election of Donald Trump has prompted some left-wingers to join gun clubs - and even start preparing for the collapse of society. "I really didn't expect to be thinking about purchasing a gun. It was something that my father did and I rolled my eyes at him." Clara, a 28-year-old nursing student, grew up in the Mid-West, where "the folks that had guns were seen as hicks" or were just "culturally different", she says. But since the election of Donald Trump in November she has started...

Inaccuracies, melodrama, bias, outrage: Journalists showcased plenty during election night news coverage which proved to be intense — and endless. The phenomenon has taken a toll. The weary nation appears to be peeved at the press, and that includes Democrats and Republicans alike who are literally turning away.

•CBRL reported a decent Q1. •Comps were positive but only because of strong pricing; traffic and the retail stores were weak. •Margin growth continued but at nearly 21 times this year's earnings, the stock is way too expensive. Cracker Barrel (NASDAQ:CBRL) has long been an example for others in the restaurant sector. The company has bucked weak trends in casual dining and its retail stores have helped shoulder the burden as well. CBRL's unique model has worked extremely well over the past few years and it pays a sizable dividend to boot. After a nice Q1 report, the stock is...

An online movement of men is shrugging off the stereotype that 'cats are for girls' and flaunting their affinity for kitties, writes Hayley Gleeson. And they're giving others permission to embrace a gentler, more thoughtful kind of masculinity. Myles Loughran is a cat man. 'Cat man' as in, 'cat lady', but with a Y-chromosome. Put another way, Mr Loughran is a man who likes cats — as opposed to a man who likes dogs, say, or miniature pigs. "There's something about cats," the 29-year-old co-owner of Cat Cafe Melbourne tells ABC News. "I feel they can give you that real...