All political arguments aside ("tragedy hipsters"etc etc...), what a nightmare this must have been.

A few months ago I linked to a good article by The Atlantic about the underlying intentions of a group like ISIS (in part, creating the conditions - through increasing tension and mistrust between Muslims and non-Muslims - for an apocalyptic "good vs. evil" conflict from which "true believers" would emerge). So it's good, I think, to see that the general response in the wake of the Paris attacks has been to encourage more understanding and compassion across social and cultural lines, rather than less. There's also been a recognition that while there will always be a small, bigoted, murderous fraction of the population, they'll always be far outnumbered by the lawful and free majority.

As an aside, here's to hoping Eagles of Death Metal can return to this some time in the future: