Peter Beinart wrote Why Obama Is Standing by the Syrian Refugees, posted at The Atlantic on November 23. The path we’ve been following—and remember, the nativism we’ve been witnessing began long before shots were fired in Paris on November 13—should embarrass everyone. Unfortunately, embarrassment does not seem to be evident among a majority of our fellow citizens. President Obama reminds us, constantly, that we must rise above the ugly, and Mr. Beinart documents the situation very well.

Note that nothing about surprise. Jeffrey Toobin explains why the current mood falls well within the contours of our national history, in Two American Answers to the Refugee Question for the New Yorker on November 24.

I very much enjoyed Reimagining Journalism: The Story of the One Percent, written by Michael Massing for the New York Review of Books. It’s the first half of a two-parter, it’s well written, and it describes how journalism has failed us in covering the influence of the mega-wealthy on our politics. I look forward to the second part, and to writing about this issue.

Heard about red mercury? It’s a new subject for me … but I’m not so much into making bombs, and other destructive sh*t. Apparently, for the limited number of people who like to blow up people and things, it’s the Holy Grail. C.J. Chivers’ piece for the New York Times magazine this past weekend, The Doomsday Scam, offers up the likeliest and most obvious explanation.

Aeon.co is a pretty cool source for essays. I ran across English is Not Normal recently. True dat, and thanks to Professor John McWhorter, who teaches linguistics and American Studies at Columbia University, for explaining why.

Well, gee, it seems like there’s a special meal on the horizon. For tips—and lots of fine photos—take a look at SeriousEats.com’s Thanksgiving Survival Guide.

Finally, MRW does like to share burger pics and links. In honor of Thanksgiving I googled best turkey burger. I got, high up, a link to Oprah.com and Mar-a-Lago Turkey Burger. Ms. Winfrey claims it “may be the best turkey burger in the entire world,” and in saying so—and, here, we’re focused on “may”—she surely insulted the biggest turkey who’s ever run for President of the United States, and the man who owns Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump.

So, in lieu of focusing on Mr. Trump, I did a bit more searching, and found Hemingway’s Hamburger, a  lovely which Cheryl-Lu-Lien Tan  wrote for—what else—The Paris Review. (I’ve made Papa’s recipe. It produces a fine burger, better with beef but OK with turkey. Here’s a photo:

Finally, if you’re like me you’ll probably be sick of turkey soon. Facebook was kind enough to share this photo of a Shrimp, Bacon, Hearts of Palm, Green Onion, Roasted Tomato, Fontina, and Mozzarella pie, baked in PGR’s handmade oven two years ago. But for the carbon, it was one fine pie!