Did You Know?   

   We never knew, until now, that the U.S. banned importation of slaves in 1808, long before the Civil War. Unfortunately, traders/smugglers continued to violate the law. Their last ship arrived in 1860 with 112 slaves, and they burned it to hide the evidence.  

   In 1787, horse and buggy days, the 13 former English colonies began a laborious, uncertain transition to the independent United States. Many tedious months passed before all controversies and compromises were settled, in 1789. Even so, nothing was passed unanimously in any state.

   All the pieces still were not in place when George Washington took the first oath of office. 

   It took another 19 years before the U.S. could banish slave ships, but not slavery itself, which would have sparked rebellion long before Lincoln's time. 

Obeying the Admiral   

   Did you know we follow an admiral's advice? We knew that someone wrote about starting each day by making the bed, which calls for attention to detail, etc., leading to a productive day. 

   We didn't know who wrote that, until we saw Retired Adm. William McCraven interviewed on TV this week. Adm. McCraven was a Navy SEAL, eventually becoming Commander of Special Ops Command. He organized Operation Neptune Spear, the raid that took out Osama bin Laden in 2011. 

   His visual identification of the body - he had a 6-2 SEAL lay down beside 6-4 bin Laden - later was confirmed by DNA. President Obama joked, "You couldn't afford a tape measure?" 

   The admiral's top concern is not any of today's threats. It is K-12 education. If it doesn't improve, he said, there won't be any national security to defend in 40 years. 

   You can search his name for more expert advice.

      Jimmy