WATCHING a few of the shows around midnight last night, I was struck by the spirit of defiance: Times Square revelers with American flags, dismissing terrorists; Robin Williams on Letterman making fun of mullahs in Afghanistan; some comic I didn’t know on Leno doing the same while urging that everyone should be his own Air Marshal.

And people were right to be defiant. They’re still out there, and they still want to kill us. But when New Year’s passes without incident (reportedly with a bigger crowd at Times Square than at the millennium celebrations), and when Islamists are the butt of late-night jokes, the terrorists have lost another round.

UPDATE: Reader Matt Howell emails:

That comic on Leno last night who talked about the air marshals was Jay Mohr. He’s been around for a few years, having a brief stint on SNL before the Will Ferrell-Darrell Hammond-Chris Kattan cast came in, and then having a pretty decent career as an actor and stand-up comic since. He actually starred in his own show called Action! on FX, where he played a crazy Hollywood producer. It was one of those really funny shows that for some reason didn’t find an audience.

It sure didn’t find me. But then, any show that depended on me for its audience would be in deep trouble.