Read On: Here are some predictions for the new year

Guaranteed to happen in 2016:

Donald Trump will say something so utterly outrageous and offensive that pundits predict it will do irreparable damage to his presidential campaign. And then it won’t.

Trump will lose interest in the presidential race and ultimately drop out sometime in the spring, citing a desire to spend more time with himself.

The issue of immigration will be the Republican party’s Achilles heel in this election year.

Voter turnout will prove the lowest since the 1990s.

As abortion returns to the national conversation in a big way, the Supreme Court will greatly restrict it and perhaps even come close to outright prohibiting it.

Hillary Clinton will not only win the Democratic nomination for President; she’ll also win the Presidency itself in November.

A homicidal maniac will kill eight or 10 people and injure dozens more in a public place, and there will be loud calls for greater gun restrictions. But no important gun-control measure will be passed as it’s finally acknowledged that the National Rifle Assn. is actually running the country.

To that end, guns will remain the murder weapon of choice for toddlers as well as older criminals.

Several more high-profile police killings of unarmed black males will serve to inflate the profile and clout of the Black Lives Matter activist movement.

Muslims will continue to be demonized as a culture, particularly in the United States — and especially after the inevitable series of ISIS atrocities.

Fear of a terrorist attack on American soil in advance of the U.S. general election will grip the media in September and October. But none will occur. And none will happen during the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August, either.

A serious cyberterrorism attack on the Internet infrastructure itself will underscore where the real warfare of the future lies.

Bell bottoms will make a comeback. The miniskirt, sadly, will not.

E-cigarettes (i.e. vaping) will be either banned in most places in the United States or at least severely limited.

China will get serious about cleaning up the environment. India will not.

The mullet haircut will make a full-fledged (and entirely unfortunate) comeback.

The Affordable Care Act will be severely weakened by politically-motivated interests that care little about Americans who finally have health insurance continuing to be covered.

The sale and casual use of marijuana will be legalized in more states, as will gay marriage.

Nostradamus will predict several things that won’t come true, at least in part because he’s been dead for 450 years.

Apple will unveil a new watch and a new iPhone to the usual publicity windfall, and the backlash against both will be swift and nearly unanimous.

The latest incarnation of virtual reality will come in big. The experts will deem it dazzling. And the public will largely ignore it.

Drones will completely lose their luster.

The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer.

Adele will take a last name.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will surpass $2 billion in global box office.

A majority of the population will silently acknowledge that perhaps there is more to life than seeing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Amazon Prime subscribers will feel guilty about supporting an evil retail behemoth even as they press the button to order another pair of Levis.

People will fall for another fake news story on Twitter.

An elderly celebrity will die, and you will be surprised that they were still alive.

Netflix will overtake HBO as the HBO of original content.

The most trusted newsman in America will be a transplanted British satirist named John Oliver.

Bill Cosby will face a taxing legal ordeal over his sexual assault charges, but won’t serve any actual prison time due to the craftiness of his dream team of lawyers — not necessarily because he’s innocent.

Someone will figure out that Morongo Casino actually spells “Moron — go!”

You’ll lose that 10 pounds. But then you’ll gain it back.

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RAY RICHMOND has covered Hollywood and the entertainment business since 1984. He can be reached via email at ray@rayrichco.com and Twitter at @MeGoodWriter.