Good morning!

Surely the movement to “transition” boys into girls and girls into boys marks a new low in human civilization. Mental health “professionals,” pediatric specialists and surgeons are coaching and prodding confused, depressed, impressionable young people to do irreparable damage to their healthy bodies. It is one of the clearest, most shocking signs of the devil’s growing influence and his hatred for human beings.

Receive a free news briefing in your inbox each weekday—the Trumpet Brief.

Thankfully, a New York jury finally struck a blow at this perverse industry.

On Friday, a psychologist and a surgeon were found liable for medical malpractice for approving and performing a double mastectomy on a 16-year-old girl, Fox Varian, who thought herself to be a boy at the time but has since woken up. She was awarded $2 million in damages.

The jury found that the providers skipped critical steps, pressuring Varian into surgery and causing permanent damage to a vulnerable teen.

This verdict cracks open liability for doctors, psychologists and clinics, signaling the end of “medical immunity” for pushing such horrific procedures on youths. Dozens of similar lawsuits are pending. It will surely give all these people pause before proposing “solutions” to youths that will destroy their lives.

Meanwhile, the tidal wave of youths who think they are “trapped in the wrong body” is dropping.

It shows just how morally infirm our society is that such are the victories we celebrate. Nevertheless, for the sake of our young people, for this we can thank God.

Iran Is Not Backing Down

Since Iran’s horrendous massacre against its own people last month, the United States has been threatening the nation with regime change. Iran is not backing down. Several recent developments suggest Iran is preparing for a massive fight against the West:

• Iran responded to the EU classifying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization by giving the same designation to the militaries of all European Union countries.
• After the uss Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group entered the Middle East theater on January 26, Iran held live-fire naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz January 27-29 and scheduled irgc live-fire exercises for February 1-2.
• Footage on Iranian state media unveiled a system of “underwater missile tunnels” in the Persian Gulf containing guided cruise missiles that can reportedly hit targets over 600 miles away.

These are not the actions of a chastised power. This is a belligerent regime that is readying for conflict. Iran’s regime, even while facing its most significant protests ever, will do whatever it deems necessary to survive and to advance its radical Islamist agenda.

Daniel 11:40 is a prophecy of an end-time power called “the king of the south” pushing against another power bloc, “the king of the north,” leading to world war. As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in The King of the South, the king of the north represents united Europe, and the king of the south represents Iran and its Islamist allies. This soon-to-be-fulfilled prophecy means Iran will reach levels of power it does not yet have—all while maintaining its belligerence against Europe and the West. Because of this, the Trumpet expects Iran’s regime to survive the current crisis. For more details, read “Is Iran’s Regime Finished?”

Ukraine’s Weaponized Winter

Russian President Vladimir Putin has brushed off yet another phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump and continued strikes against Ukraine.

• After his forces targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last few weeks, thousands were left without power and heat during the coldest winter in more than a decade.
• “I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that, and I have to tell you it was very nice,” Trump said on Thursday after calling Putin.
• Russia paused strikes that night and agreed to cease strikes on the capital, Kyiv, until February 1, rather than for a week. It continued to strike other cities, such as Kharikiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

On Sunday, a Russian drone struck a coal mine in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing 12 miners. According to dtek, one coal mine in the same region suffered two attacks within a 24-hour period.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday the situation in Kyiv is still “extremely difficult,” with more than 500 apartment buildings without heat as temperatures drop to as low as -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Russia has sustained 1.2 million casualties of its own in its war against Ukraine and has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, yet it is showing no sign of slowing down. For more on why Donald Trump’s outreaches to Putin have failed, read our article “The Roadblock to Peace.”

IN OTHER NEWS

Merz confirms German interest in European nuclear arsenal: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed on January 29 that his government is in early talks with France and Britain over the development of a shared European nuclear arsenal. This comes after German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said Germany should consider the idea last month and as tensions with the United States remain strained. These talks could give Germany more influence over France’s arsenal, despite Germany being banned from having its own nuclear weapons. Merz made sure to state these talks are in line with Germany’s nonnuclear agreements and don’t conflict with the current nuclear umbrella provided by the U.S. But discussion of increased German influence over nuclear weapons at the direct expense of U.S. leverage in European strategy should be raising alarms in Washington, across the Continent, and beyond.

German military signs historic deal with space company: The Bundeswehr signed a contract with German space technology company Polaris to build and operate a two-stage, horizontal takeoff, fully reusable hypersonic vehicle. Polaris announced the deal on January 27. The craft, planned to be operational by the end of 2027, will be used for defense and scientific research. It could also launch small satellites into orbit. Polaris said that according to its knowledge, “a contract for a comparable system was never awarded before to an entity in Europe, maybe even worldwide.” This is an example of Germany’s development of space technologies. Bible prophecy says Germany will soon start a nuclear World War iii, and space will be an important theater in this calamity.

DW: U.S. anti-Semitism makes Germany look good: In 2025, the German Consulate General in New York received 1,771 citizenship applications from the descendants of people persecuted under the Nazi regime, a January 28 Tagesschau report noted, up from 894 applications in 2023 and 734 applications in 2024. This increase can be attributed to a new German law that permits dual citizenship, the current political climate in the United States, and a surge in anti-Semitism in America. According to the fbi, the U.S. is experiencing more anti-Semitic attacks than ever, with 1,938 single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes reported in the U.S. in 2024. These factors, perhaps along with resentment toward President Trump and even toward New York City’s new Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, are causing some to see Germany as a better option. Bible prophecy reveals that this will soon change.

New Epstein document dump: The U.S. Department of Justice published more than 3 million additional pages of documents, photos and videos related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on January 30. The new batch includes explicit exchanges between L.A. Olympic Committee chair Casey Wasserman and Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell. They also indicate that Bill Gates caught a sexually transmitted disease from Russian prostitutes and that he asked Epstein about how to secretly give his wife antibiotics. The photos show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling on all fours over an unidentified person: both are clothed. Most of the information in the Epstein files is unvetted, nobody has been convicted of a crime in relation to Epstein, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated yesterday that the Justice Department is not considering prosecutions based on these latest revelations either. American society is sick, from the elites on down. There remain two standards of justice in America, and the elites continue to escape justice.

Celebrities slam ICE in Grammy speeches: The 2026 Grammy Awards, held yesterday in Los Angeles, turned into a platform to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many attendees, including Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Kehlani and Joni Mitchell, wore “ICE Out” pins. “No one is illegal on stolen land,” Eilish said during her acceptance speech for the Song of the Year award, apparently asserting not only that illegal immigrants should remain but that the entire territory of the United States should belong to native Americans. “It’s really hard to know what to say and what to do right now,” she continued. “… I just I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.” Other celebrities, like Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said things like, “The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.” Their comments reveal a lawless spirit that has taken over much of American culture and thought to the point that physically attacking law enforcement officers as they try to remove violent criminals is considered “love.”

AI agents can now do your shopping—and start their own religion. Internet users are having increasingly trusting and increasingly dangerous interactions with artificial intelligence. One agent, OpenClaw, went viral last week as more people shared their experiences allowing it to order their groceries, reschedule flights, reply to e-mails, and handle other online tasks. Many say they are excited by the time-saving potential, but AI assistants like OpenClaw require users to provide access to the contents of their computers, including usernames and passwords, payment information and other sensitive details, the risks of which are obvious. Not quite as obvious is the result of the same company’s AI social network, Moltbook. Here, tens of thousands of AI agents are having increasingly bizarre conversations and have even created their own religion: Crustafarianism. For more on why developers and everyday users are rushing ahead with AI despite its major costs and obvious pitfalls, read “Why We Must Develop AI (Even If It Kills Us).”