Paris attacks: Islamic State claims responsibility, French president Francois Hollande calls it 'act of war' ... In a statement posted online, IS said the attacks were a response to France's campaign against its fighters and insults against Islam's prophet. It said "eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles" conducted a "blessed attack on ... Crusader France". – ABCNews

Dominant Social Theme: Where do these radical terrorists come from? This is what Islam produces, no doubt.

Free-Market Analysis: Our thoughts and prayers are with those hurt and the families of those killed during the Paris attacks. According to various reports, at least 129 have now died.

Here's some of what's been reported as of this writing:

Two restaurants were targeted: Le Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon, both on Rue Bichat. There were attacks on the Boulevard Beaumarchais, Rue de Charonne, Avenue de le Republique and Boulevard Voltaire.

At Bataclan, a concert venue, 125 people were held hostage before about 90 were randomly shot to death. Four terrorists either killed themselves or were killed when police charged the hall and secured it. Around Paris, some eight gunmen were said to have either killed themselves or were killed by French forces.

There were seven suicide attacks and one bombing around the Stade de France stadium. President Francois Hollande was in the crowd.

Total casualties: at least 129 people are reported dead and perhaps 350 wounded.

The police asked Parisians to stay indoors on Saturday and schools, museums, libraries, gyms, swimming pools and food markets are to be closed. The Eiffel Tower is closed to visitors until further notice.

The attackers were reported to have been dressed in black and carrying Kalashnikovs and hand grenades.

President Hollande will not be attending the G20 meeting but will stay in France, and will address parliament today. He  declared a state of emergency and closed the border to those intending to exit France, with the idea that some of the attackers might attempt to leave the country.

Some of this will change no doubt as French authorities further investigate these terrible events. France has so far retaliated with at least 20 bombs dropped on "ISIS strongholds" in Syria.

Now to a larger question: Is this Islam? Is this ghastly violence part of the "religion of peace"?

In the West, Islam is increasingly entrenched as a religion of violence. Yet other voices, including Islamic ones, maintain this is not so. The Islamic code of justice is ferocious but the barriers to asserting it are extremely high in the course of daily Sunni life – or so we have been told.

Numerous male "believers," for instance, must witness a crime before a punishment can be carried out. This is not the case apparently when it comes to the more "fundamentalist" or strict Islamic interpretations adopted by al Qaeda and ISIS.