Trump is tweeting about himself and not the Minnesota mosque bombing. That matters.
An improvised explosive device detonated at a Bloomington, Minnesota, mosque on the morning of Aug. 5.
The attack is the latest in a series of anti-Muslim incidents that have rocked the state — 14 in 2016 alone, according to the Star-Tribune.
Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton called the bombing an "act of terror."
Minnesota Council of Churches CEO Rev. Curtiss DeYoung called it an "attack on all faith communities."
Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, released a statement affirming his organization's "solidarity with the local Muslim community."
President Trump, meanwhile ... has yet to say anything at all.
Instead, the president spent Monday morning tweeting about his accomplishments in office, news coverage he doesn't like, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal's misrepresentation of his Vietnam war service.
Much of Twitter was outraged at the president's silence.
The president isn't always slow to condemn terror — and that's the problem.
Trump issued statements immediately following two terror attacks — carried out by Muslim assailants — that rocked London earlier this year. The day of last year's mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub, Trump took credit for predicting the carnage, noting that he "[appreciated] the congrats" for being "right" about "radical Islamic terror."
Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images.
Meanwhile, the president waited over a week to condemn the alleged hate-crime killing of an Indian immigrant engineer in Kansas, and even longer to denounce a series of attacks on Jewish cemeteries earlier this year.
When Muslims perpetrate terror attacks, Trump's response is frequently deafening and swift. When Muslims, immigrants, and members of other vulnerable groups are victims, his response is very often silence.
Not speaking out when an attack doesn't comport with a pre-scripted hero-villain narrative doesn't just make a mockery of the truth — it carries with it an implication that some Americans are more equal than others.
His silence leaves the door open to further bias-driven incidents, and it functions, knowingly or not, as a wink toward those who might carry them out. A report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that anti-Muslim bias crimes jumped 57% in 2016, a period roughly coinciding with the last presidential election.
President Trump's unwillingness to speak out makes America less safe — and less great.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
In a large, messy, diverse society such as ours, an attack on one isn't just an attack on all — it's an attack on the very principles our country was founded on.
It's a miracle that no one was injured in the Bloomington blast. Next time, we might not be so lucky.
The president needs to get the message before too much damage is done — both to the American people and the American idea.
"Now your fishes will be warmed."
"To have one’s eyes lined with ham."
"To lay your head in water."
"Repetition teaches the donkey."
"I only understand train station."
"To speak directly from the liver."
"Horse horse, tiger tiger."
Beaver in water. Photo by 
An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Medusa image of giant squid in Gulf of Mexico off of Mississippi Gulf CoastPhoto credit: 
Sign warning against feeding alligators next to alligator in Mississippi marshlandsCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
Mississippi Gulf Coast beach in BiloxiCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
2009 photo of giant squid caught in Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi GulfPhoto credit: 
Thank goodness this story has a happy ending.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."