The James Logan Courier

By Shashank Bengali and Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

MALINDI, Kenya — With Somali pirates pointing an automatic rifle at a hostage American ship captain, U.S. Navy sharpshooters opened fire Sunday, killing the pirates and ending an extraordinary five-day standoff that marked the first seizure of a U.S. vessel by pirates on the high seas in at least two centuries.

Three pirates were killed, the Pentagon said. The captain, 53-year-old Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt., was rescued unharmed and taken aboard a U.S. warship. A fourth pirate who had surrendered earlier also was being detained, and could face trial in the United States.

From wikipedia:
John Hanson (April 14 [O.S. April 3] 1721 – November 22, 1783) was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. After serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland, in 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland finally joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, he became the first President of Congress to be elected under the terms of the Articles of Confederation. For this reason, Hanson was later promoted as having been the first President of the United States, one of several myths about him.

Read more about John Hanson and the spurious claim that he was President of the United States free at snopes.com.