The School Calendar Debacle and the Brown-Ulman Vote in Montgomery County

Reading the story about the Montgomery County school debacle (since I’d already seen the headline on Facebook’s “Trending” feed and ignored it, though I read about when I was browsing the TOI page), I thought (and tweeted), “Ah; Montgomery County. One of the Brown-Ulman counties, along with PG and Charles. #Justthinkaboutit” (If you don’t believe me, you can check for yourself.). Having worked on to-be Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman’s campaign, I already knew that soon-to-be-Former Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown and soon-to-be Former Howard County Executive Ken Ulman (given that they were on the side of Howard County Councilwoman Courtney Watson, and vice versa) were trouble (Besides—and now I can confess that—I live in Howard County. I’ve lied on Facebook and said “Baltimore” for safety reasons. I will never say where in Howard County, though, but for that I have said where I was raised.).

Then came the following memory to the front of my mind: that memory about an Annapolis Conference. As I tried to recall the date, I recalled either August or November, 2010 or somewhen thereabouts, and the 27th. I concluded November 27, 2010. Then I looked it up—I was darned close (and how much time has passed! Incidentally, that’s like my mom recalling that her paternal grandma died when she was nine—and she was seven—and my paternal granddad’s cousin recalled their maternal granddad passing in 1953—and he passed in 1951. By the way, their mothers were sisters. That’s what happens when so much time passes!).

God wasn’t going to let Anti Semitism win, and He didn’t. He kicked Anthony Brown and Ken Ulman right out. He wasn’t going to let another Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Semitic/Anti-Israel Annapolis Conference happen. He did exactly what I and others at the Victory Party prayed that He would do: let Larry Hogan win and confound Anthony Brown and Ken Ulman, to let them know that the God of Israel is God; and that what Torah says is true: God will bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse him.

By the way, as I wondered, Ken Ulman is Jewish. Why, as is often asked, do so many Jews hate their own people? As has been said in other ways, the worst enemy of Israel is Israel—though shouldn’t the fact that there is Anti Semitism and terrorism from groups like Hamas and Hezbollah be enough to prevent Jewish self hatred and infighting? After all, how are we going to be an ‘or l’goyim if we can’t be  an ‘am echad?

On a sidenote, I was happy to see a Republican Pritzker running for the Attorney General. I understand quite a few Pritzkers (such as Penny Pritzker and even one of my former instructors whose mother is a Pritzker) are Democratic and bought right into the “Jews have to be Democrats” stereotype. After all, most Jews were Republican up until the 20th Century.