The Biggest Losers for 2016

It’s time to name Chris Freind's biggest losers for 2016!

Hillary Clinton. Without a doubt, the biggest. Hillary is the most repudiated politician in American history, twice being denied her "inevitable" coronation. Now, she’s been relegated to the dustbin of "they also ran." The rest is history.

Cinnabon. The company could have had its cinnamon bun and eaten it too, but its cowardice became the icing on the cake for a public relations disaster. In a tribute to Carrie Fisher — singularly known as Princess Leia with her trademark hairbuns — Cinnabon made an image of Leia, with a swirly cinnamon bun representing her iconic hairstyle. The company tweeted, "RIP Carrie Fisher, you'll always have the best buns in the galaxy."

Even though there was nothing wrong with that creative tribute, a few were "offended" — what else is new? — prompting Cinnabon to cower, take down the image, and apologize.

But apologize for what? Instead of sticking with its bread and butter, Cinnabon rolled over, like so many companies do, and fed the "offended generation’s" narcissism. The "Force" was definitely not with Cinnabon. If it had been, the company would have realized that its creation wasn’t in bad "taste" at all.

Mariah Carey and Ryan Seacrest. Pop diva Carey was a train-wreck during her live New Year’s Eve performance, claiming she had "technical difficulties." Instead of handling the situation professionally, Mariah stopped mid-song several times, babbled incoherently, misfired when she tried again, and then dropped the microphone and stormed offstage, while her lyrics were still playing — showing the world that she was lip-synching.

Even more entertaining were people’s reactions on Twitter, including this one, "ISIS has officially claimed responsibility for Mariah Carey's performance" and "9-1-1? ‘Mariah Carey just bombed Times Square.'"

That said, host Ryan Seacrest let Carey founder, declining to come onstage to render assistance, as a gentleman would do. Nor did he cut to a commercial, as a professional would do.

It’s bad enough Seacrest has no talent. He showed the world he also has no class.

College players skipping bowl games. Christian McCaffrey (Stanford) and Leonard Fournette (LSU) opted out of bowl games to avoid injury and miss out on a big payday from the NFL.

That’s a disgrace.

They abandoned their teammates and coaches, disappointed fans, and set a terrible example to our youth, reinforcing the message that it’s an all-about-me society.

It’s understandable that they didn’t want to jeopardize a signing bonus that will be more than most people make in a lifetime. But that’s why God made sports insurance. If you get injured, you’re a multimillionaire. If you make it unscathed, you’ll be a fat cat in the NFL.

Those guys forgot what brought them. They may be celebrities, but they’ll never be true stars.

Colin Kaepernick. Washed-up quarterback Colin Kaepernick is the ingrate who refused to stand for the national anthem. If Kaepernick had class, he would have protested outside of football, on his own time. Instead, he invited divisiveness into the league, its fan base, and his team, personifying the ungrateful, spoiled child. When you turn your back on the country that afforded you everything, while employed by a private entity with a very public face — you need to go.

Rio de Janeiro. From shootings at Olympic venues to toxic waterways, and from green pool water to Olympic housing falling apart, Rio showed that third-world cities cannot successfully host Olympics. Some politically correct commentators claimed Rio "pulled it off," but the city didn’t. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Rio "looked" nice, but behind the thin charade, we saw the very unflattering picture of one of the world’s most dangerous and corrupt cities.

FBI Director James Comey. Director Comey is a disgrace to the FBI, as his weakness allowed the once-proud bureau to be politicized — and worse — marginalized.

The FBI’s credibility was shattered when Comey allowed himself to get bullied by the U.S. attorney general into announcing that Hillary Clinton would not be charged for using a private server for classified information.

That wasn’t his job. The FBI investigates—period.

It never recommends or discourages prosecution; that’s the purview of the Justice Department. But because Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton while her department was investigating Hillary, she pushed the announcement onto Comey.

Comey should have pushed it right back. He didn’t.

It was bad enough he did it in June. But to announce he was re-opening the investigation in late October, only to close it days later, amounted to electioneering, with many, including Trump’s former campaign manager, crediting Comey’s action with tipping the election away from Clinton.

For the FBI’s image to be restored, President-elect Trump needs to tell Director Comey: "You’re fired!"

Happy New Year!

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, Freindly Fire Zone Media. Read more reports from Chris Freind — Click Here Now.