We Stand With the Penguins

 

In the past week, amid the on again, off again, on again, who-knows-what-state-we're-in tariff war, the American administration levied tariffs on two islands in the Antarctic Ocean, Heard Island and McDonald Island.

Those two islands are uninhabited. No, wait, they're inhabited by penguins.  Penguins who have been, according to Trump, ripping off the USA for years.  One wonders how.  The Interweb, however, responded, in hilarious fashion.  A selection:

Canada has sent "Friendship Scarves" to the penguins

The penguins have been grateful for the support from Canada and from around the world

On a slightly more serious note, one could blame this whole ridiculous episode as being the fault of a very poorly functioning education system in the USA.  Or to the poorly qualified members of Trump's "team", or, perhaps, to Trump himself, although one wonders if he bothered taking enough time away from the golf course to come up with this list.

So many questions.  

Many media outlets weighed in, about the only way they could - a mixture of seriousness and derision.

"Nowhere on Earth is Safe..." from the Guardian.

"Nowhere is Safe" ... from the BBC., which went on to say:

Heard and McDonald Islands - a territory which sits 4,000km (2,485 miles) south-west of Australia - are only accessible via a seven-day boat trip from Perth, and haven't been visited by humans in almost a decade. 

Australian trade minister Don Farrell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the tariffs were "clearly a mistake". 

"Poor old penguins, I don't know what they did to Trump, but, look, I think it's an indication, to be honest with you, that this was a rushed process."