Prepare for 2.16.1 release

Author: cowtowncoder

pom.xml

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson</groupId>
     <artifactId>jackson-base</artifactId>
-    <version>2.16.0</version>
+    <version>2.16.1</version>
   </parent>
   <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
   <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>

release-notes/VERSION-2.x

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ a pure JSON library.
 === Releases ===
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-2.16.1 (not yet released)
+2.16.1 (24-Dec-2023)
 
 #1141: NPE in `Version.equals()` if snapshot-info `null`
  (reported by @TimSchweers)