A supporter of former president Donald Trump drives past his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. AP
A supporter of former president Donald Trump drives past his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. AP
A supporter of former president Donald Trump drives past his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. AP
A supporter of former president Donald Trump drives past his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. AP

Pennsylvania man arrested after threatening to 'slaughter' FBI agents


Kyle Fitzgerald
  • English
  • Arabic

A man from the US state of Pennsylvania has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill FBI agents following the agency's search of former president Donald Trump's home in Florida last week.

Adam Bies has been charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against a federal law enforcement officer, a criminal complaint filed in western Pennsylvania on Monday showed.

The arrest comes after the agency issues warnings over increased threats made in retaliation for the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago.

The complaint said that the FBI had received a tip on August 11 from a domestic terrorism threat monitor that stated a user on a far-right social media platform had posted threats against the FBI and law enforcement personnel.

“My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop,” said Mr Bies, who goes by the username “BlankFocus” on the social network Gab.

In a separate post on August 11, Mr Bies compared US agencies to the Nazi SS and Soviet-era KGB.

“I’ll shoot an SS officer in the head just as quick as I’d shoot a KGB officer in the head. Keep that in mind. There are plenty of other letters in the alphabet. Police state scum are police state scum. Period,” Mr Bies wrote.

Gab, a fringe social media platform, provided subscriber information to the FBI following the domestic terror tip.

“It’s perfectly OK for the government to constantly tell you that they intend to murder you, but when we decide we’ve had enough and tell them we are going to slaughter THEM, you get banned from Gab,” Mr Bies wrote and added that Gab had issued him a warning.

Threats against US law enforcement have spiked since classified documents were seized during a court-authorised search of Mr Trump's home.

One of the threats specified in a memo obtained by US media outlets included placing a “so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI headquarters”.

Agents seized 11 sets of classified documents from Mr Trump's home. An unsealed search warrant showed miscellaneous “confidential”, “secret” and “top secret” documents had been taken as well as documents on the “President of France” and Mr Trump's pardon of ally Roger Stone.

The former president and his allies have sought to portray the search as politically motivated. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Mr Trump called for the affidavit the FBI used to carry out the warrant to be released.

The Justice Department has opposed such a measure, saying it is likely to compromise the department's investigation. Prosecutors also cited recent violence against law enforcement agents as another reason not to release the affidavit.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The alternatives

• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.

• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.

• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.

2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.

• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases -  but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Saturday (UAE kick-off times)

Cologne v Union Berlin (5.30pm)

Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)

Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)

Paderborn v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Freiburg (5.30pm)

Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach (8.30pm)

Sunday

Mainz v Augsburg (5.30pm)

Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (8pm)

How to keep control of your emotions

If your investment decisions are being dictated by emotions such as fear, greed, hope, frustration and boredom, it is time for a rethink, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, says.

Greed

Greedy investors trade beyond their means, open more positions than usual or hold on to positions too long to chase an even greater gain. “All too often, they incur a heavy loss and may even wipe out the profit already made.

Tip: Ignore the short-term hype, noise and froth and invest for the long-term plan, based on sound fundamentals.

Fear

The risk of making a loss can cloud decision-making. “This can cause you to close out a position too early, or miss out on a profit by being too afraid to open a trade,” he says.

Tip: Start with a plan, and stick to it. For added security, consider placing stops to reduce any losses and limits to lock in profits.

Hope

While all traders need hope to start trading, excessive optimism can backfire. Too many traders hold on to a losing trade because they believe that it will reverse its trend and become profitable.

Tip: Set realistic goals. Be happy with what you have earned, rather than frustrated by what you could have earned.

Frustration

Traders can get annoyed when the markets have behaved in unexpected ways and generates losses or fails to deliver anticipated gains.

Tip: Accept in advance that asset price movements are completely unpredictable and you will suffer losses at some point. These can be managed, say, by attaching stops and limits to your trades.

Boredom

Too many investors buy and sell because they want something to do. They are trading as entertainment, rather than in the hope of making money. As well as making bad decisions, the extra dealing charges eat into returns.

Tip: Open an online demo account and get your thrills without risking real money.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

The five pillars of Islam
Updated: August 16, 2022, 6:25 PM`