Tag: unanswered questions

Was Amazon’s Tokenmaxxing Fiasco Behind Claude’s $500M Mystery Bill?

Axios reported this week that an unnamed Anthropic enterprise client managed to run up roughly $500 million in Claude charges in a single month after failing to put usage limits on employee licenses.

The company was not named, but we suspect Blue Origin might not be the only thing that blew up for Jeff Bezos this month.

Just as the Axios report landed with the $500M tidbit, Amazon was shutting down an internal AI-usage leaderboard after employees reportedly began “tokenmaxxing” – routing unnecessary work through AI tools to inflate their usage scores. The result was a perfect case study in what happens when corporate America turns AI adoption into a metric, then acts surprised when employees optimize for the metric instead of the work.

Whether or not Amazon was the mystery Claude whale, its internal AI experiment shows exactly how a runaway enterprise AI bill can happen.

The $500M Claude Mystery

The Axios item was brief, but extraordinary:;

An AI consultant tells Axios one of their clients recently spent half a billion dollars in a single month after failing to put usage limits on Claude licenses for employees. 

So, oops to every CFO who recently approved “AI adoption” as a corporate priority.

In the old software world, when true nerds roamed the land, a bad rollout usually meant paying for licenses employees barely touched. The waste was real, but at least it was mostly static. In the new agentic AI world, a bad rollout – or simply adopting AI for everything – can quickly become devastating: thousands of employees – or autonomous agents operating on their behalf – prompting, testing, summarizing, refactoring, retrying, and spinning up new tasks on usage-based pricing.

That is the heart of the current enterprise AI hangover. Companies spent the past year foisting AI on employees, often without a clean way to separate productivity from dashboard-friendly activity. And now the hangover is here. 

Microsoft has reportedly started canceling most Claude Code licenses and steering developers toward GitHub Copilot CLI. Uber reportedly burned through its entire 2026 AI coding-tools budget by April, with COO Andrew Macdonald saying it was “very hard to draw a line” between rising Claude Code usage and useful consumer-facing output. Meta killed an employee-created “Claudeonomics” dashboard after workers competed to rank among the company’s top AI token users.

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This Is The Deep State On Parade Like A Naked Emperor

In the annals of Deep State WTF-ery, is there a stranger case than CIA officer David Rush turning up with $40-million in 303 one-kilogram gold bars, plus $2-million in cash, plus a stash of 30 mostly Rolex watches?

Well, yeah, the stranger story is how the guy got hired by the CIA in the first place.

Rush was arrested on Monday, May 18, by an FBI SWAT team at his home in Loudoun County, VA. Agents searched the house all day long and found the stash. Rush is currently charged with theft of public money and allegedly falsifying his military and academic credentials to obtain federal employment benefits, including roughly $77,000 in improper military leave pay. He’s scheduled to make a federal court appearance in Alexandria today.

Rush first applied for a job at the CIA in March 2006. He claimed to have a bachelor’s degree in math from Clemson University and a master’s from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He was rejected. He reapplied later that same year. Bumped again. He reapplied again in 2009, adding a new credential: that he’d been a US Navy test pilot and flight trainer. This time, he was hired.

Rush’s college credentials were found to be false, but it is unclear when that was discovered. Since he included them in his two earlier 2006 failed applications, why were they not flagged in his successful 2009 application? His claim of being a US Navy pilot was also found to be false (he was an information systems tech in his Navy service). The FBI affidavit unsealed recently details the pattern of lies across all applications.

Understand that CIA vetting procedures are supposed to be exceedingly rigorous. The process is stressful and invasive — many candidates drop out or are weeded out. The background check involves interviews with practically everybody who knows the applicant going back decades, his criminal history, work, financial history, education, military service. The applicant gets a polygraph exam. Even after getting hired, monitoring continues.

Rush was hired at the very start of the Obama admin; Leon Panetta was the newly appointed CIA Director. Wouldn’t you like to hear him ‘splain how David Rush managed to get hired? Was somebody smoothing his way in? Rush rose to become a senior executive service (SES) officer with a top-secret (TS/SCI) security clearance. His exact duties, the division he worked for, his day-to-day responsibilities have not been disclosed.

Rush allegedly requested the gold and foreign currency from the CIA for “work-related expenses” between November 2025 and March 2026. The agency later could not account for the assets or locate records explaining their official purpose. A search of a storage locker at CIA connected to Rush turned up only a small amount of the requisitioned cash.

“There is a whole process that we go through to get that money. I don’t just walk into the logistics office and say ‘Excuse me, I need $100,000 tomorrow.’ There is a form I have to fill out. It’s not a bank vault you walk into. It doesn’t work like that.” — Tracy Walder, 46, a former FBI special agent and CIA officer, quoted in The New York Post.

Wouldn’t you assume that some higher-up CIA officer would have to sign off on such a colossal requisition of gold and money? (And where does the CIA get so much gold on-demand?) Perhaps the very Director of the CIA approved it — which would be John Ratcliffe through 2025 up to right now. Doesn’t he have some ‘splainin’ to do? (Was Rush set-up? Was this a sting?)

Assuming Rush spent some period of time as an entry-level CIA employee, when did his rise to SES level happen? John Brennan became CIA Director in early 2013 (the start of Barack Obama’s second term). What were David Rush’s relations with John Brennan? Was Brennan his mentor? Does the gold stash have any connection with the current legal problems of John Brennan and other former high officials involved in the long-running “grand conspiracy” case about the attempted overthrow of a president?

You might imagine that Rush’s phone and computers were seized in the May 18th raid on his house — though it’s unlikely he used such conventional channels for black ops chatter. It’s conceivable, though, that any alt-communications of his were captured by the vast national security surveillance apparatus, and that DNI Tulsi Gabbard might have come across them this past year. How else might Director Ratcliffe have been tipped off?

This story is not going away. The scale of the grift is spectacular and vivid — 303 gold bars! — like a Hollywood movie. Rush’s explanation of “work-related expenses” sounds preposterous. If the requisitions were made serially, over several months, as appears, then the agency had more than one opportunity to review and question them.

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Over 20 People Hospitalized After Man Sprays Mystery Substance in Luxury Tokyo Mall

Shopping became a dangerous activity.

The Japanese capital was hit with a mystery attack after an unidentified person sprayed an unknown substance in a luxury mall.

The incident led to over 20 people being taken to hospital.

Sky News reported:

“The Tokyo fire department said 26 people suddenly developed sore throats and felt unwell near the city’s luxury Ginza Six shopping complex. All but one of them were taken to hospital.

Their symptoms were believed to be mild, according to officials.”

Emergency workers wearing hazmat suits and face masks were seen helping people at the scene. Japanese authorities have not specified what substance was sprayed, but Japanese newspaper Yomiuri reported that police found traces of pepper spray.

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NATO-made mines found on gas tanker arriving in Russia from Belgium – investigators

A tanker ship that arrived in Russia’s Leningrad Region from the Belgian port of Antwerp had NATO-made magnetic mines attached to its hull, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.

A criminal case has been opened over an attempted terrorist attack on the gas tanker, the Arrhenius, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Divers discovered “factory-produced naval magnetic mines manufactured in one of the NATO countries” on the hull when they inspected the vessel upon its arrival in the port of Ust-Luga, the statement read.

The explosive devices were neutralized by Federal Security Service officers, working together with servicemen from the Defense Ministry and the National Guard, it added.

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First hantavirus, now Ebola; What happened to the 323 vials of viruses that went missing from an Australian laboratory?

This month, a hantavirus “outbreak” and an Ebola “outbreak” have been reported. 

The widely publicised hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius was managed by the widely discredited World Health Organisation (“WHO”).  And WHO has declared the Ebola “outbreak” as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (“PHEIC”).

This has reminded us of an article we published at the end of 2024 about virus samples that went missing from an Australian laboratory.  So, we are republishing it below.

In 2021, 323 vials of virus samples went missing from a government-operated laboratory in Queensland, Australia. Two of the vials contained hantavirus.

Hantavirus is one of the viruses that causes illnesses referred to as viral haemorrhagic fevers (“VHFs”).   Another virus that causes VHFs is the Ebolavirus.

Update: An investigation was carried out into the missing vials of viruses by the Queensland Ministry of Health, which determined they were likely destroyed rather than stolen or lost.  According to a “fact check” blog by Snopes, “the agency said the samples were unlikely to have been lost or stolen, and were instead unaccounted for due to incomplete lab records, adding that the breach caused ‘no risk or harm’ to staff or the broader community.”

According to the Mirror, “questions have surfaced over [the missing vials] location following the deadly virus infecting passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.”

Interestingly, 323 missing vials of “live” virus did not attract the attention of an international response that required WHO’s management, but suspected cases of hantavirus on a cruise ship did.

Just as interesting is that missing vials of “live” virus posed no risk to the public at large, but a few suspected cases of “the deadly” hantavirus on a cruise ship, which is not transmitted between people, did.

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State police: 3 dead, 18 first responders hospitalized in Mountainair substance exposure

An emergency medical response to a suspected drug overdose at a home in Mountainair on Wednesday morning ended with the deaths of three people and hospital treatment of at least 18 first responders.

New Mexico State Police, which took over the investigation from local law enforcement, said emergency medical responders found four unresponsive people at the home on Honlon Avenue in Mountainair, a Torrance County mountain town of fewer than 1,000 people about 65 miles southeast of Albuquerque.

One person was revived with Narcan, a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses, Torrance County Sheriff David Frazee noted, and then first responders who entered the residence began feeling ill.

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Father of ‘Missing’ GOP Congressman Says He Is Under Doctor’s Care, Remains Vague About His Return

Further details are emerging about the disappearance of New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean Jr. from Congress for over two months.

In an interview with CNN, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean Sr. said his son is receiving medical treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.

“He’s hopefully coming back soon, and he’s under the care of a doctor,” Kean Sr. said, adding that his son had been evaluated by multiple physicians.

“They all agree he’s going to be fine. He’s under a doctor’s care.”

“It took a real illness to knock him out,” he added.

“This won’t linger. It’s not some kind of disease that’s going to incapacitate him in the future. The consensus is that he will be 100% OK.”

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Two House Members Remain MIA with Unexplained Health Issues, Missing Dozens of Votes

Concern is mounting in Congress about the status of two lawmakers absent from Washington because of mysterious health issues as both a Democrat and Republican have missed weeks of votes.

Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) have been missing in action — and not voted — in more than a month.

Kean, 57, has not cast a vote since March 5 because of what his campaign called a “personal medical issue” without further elaboration, the Hill reported.

Wilson, 83, has not voted since April 17, though she is expected to return to the Capitol next week.

“The absences come as leaders in both parties are encouraging full participation from their members, given the razor-thin margins in the House,” according to the outlet.

Kean’s absence could impact his reelection campaign, which, if unsuccessful, could alter the balance of power in Congress next year. He represents a swing district.

A statement issued April 27 said the New Jersey lawmaker is expected to “return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent” in the “near future,” but Kean was still absent as the House returned this week.

Meanwhile, his website has been highlighting various community projects, including  announcing on May 11 the winners from his district of a Congressional art competition.

Wilson’s four-week absence went unnoticed until reporter Jamie Dupree noted it in a post on X this week, leading reporters to question House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about it.

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DNI Gabbard Spox Denies that CIA “Raided” Office to Seize Files Following CIA Whistleblower Testimony

A spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has denied reporting that the CIA raided the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and took files relating to the JFK Assassination and the CIA’s mind control program MKUltra. 

As The Gateway Pundit reported, CIA whistleblower James Erdman III testified during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday that the CIA “took back 40 boxes of JFK files and MKUltra files being processed for declassification by DNI Gabbard” in what he described as “documented efforts to circumvent oversight.”

This prompted Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to send a preservation letter to the CIA, demanding that all existing and future records related to the taken items be preserved.

“Docs need to be returned to ODNI given that ODNI was given direction and authority by the President to declass RFK, MLK, & JFK. Regarding MKULTRA, these were documents specifically requested by my Task Force and currently being used for our investigation,” Luna wrote on X.

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Sabotage! Improvised Explosive Device Found Underwater At Alabama Dam, Threatening Water Supply

Divers conducting routine maintenance at the J.B. Converse Reservoir dam discovered a grenade-type improvised explosive device underwater, prompting a swift multi-agency response that resulted in the device’s safe removal and detonation, officials said. 

The Mobile Area Water and Sewer System (MAWSS) announced Tuesday that the Gulf Coast Regional Maritime Response and Render-Safe Team retrieved and detonated the IED at the federally designated critical infrastructure site. The 3,600-acre Converse Reservoir, also known as Big Creek Lake, holds approximately 17 billion gallons of water and serves as the primary drinking water source for about 350,000 residents in the Mobile area. 

Divers located the device during a standard survey for repairs and maintenance. MAWSS immediately notified the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, which coordinated a response involving the FBI Bomb Squad, Mobile Police Department Explosive Ordnance Detail, ALEA Bomb Squad, Daphne Search and Rescue Team, and other agencies. The Department of Homeland Security was also informed of the incident. 

MAWSS Director Bud McCrory described the discovery as an “unprecedented threat” and praised the rapid response.“

Our top priority is keeping your drinking water safe,” McCrory said. “This is an unprecedented threat, and we are fortunate that this device was discovered before it could cause serious damage to our water supply or harm to individuals. We are grateful for the professionalism and competency of our law enforcement partners — as well as the quick thinking of our contractors and divers — in identifying this device and safely destroying it.” 

Officials confirmed there was no damage to the dam or contamination of the water supply. MAWSS plans to increase security measures around the reservoir in response to the incident. Authorities have not released information on any suspects, and the investigation remains ongoing. 

The Converse Reservoir dam is one of several critical water infrastructure facilities across the United States that receive heightened federal protection.

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