38 Comments »

ScaryShit said:
Glad Colleen’s sister decided to speak to you – this story just makes me shiver.
What’s most disturbing of this article is,
“After Colleen’s death Lynn found that she had been filling out 3×5 cards with what looked like James Ray’s sayings or directives.  They were all over Colleen’s house :: Hundreds of them :: Along with spiral notebooks full of similar gibberish.  Colleen had been directed to keep a list of her ‘old limiting views’ and her new ‘harmonic views.’ Lynn sounded anguished recalling her feelings at seeing that Colleen had lined though many of the values that 2008 Colleen would have treasured.  Scratching off pieces of herself :: one at time :: replaced with empty lies.”
Sounds pretty scary to me or more like a bad movie? Hundreds of them!?! That just sounds weird. Sounds like she was seriously brainwashed.
But who knows what drives someone to suicide?!!? Maybe Colleen did commit suicide. At first I didn’t want to believe she did but know I don’t know. The gibberish and letters and cards seem to say to me that somewhere along the way something at those James Ray Seminars. It looks like he triggered something and things went terribly wrong in her head but maybe I’m reading too far into that.
I really don’t know too much about deep seeded manipulation and brain washing but that’s what this looks like.
I think we should add Colleen’s story and mystery to the Jame Arthur Ray wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arthur_Ray
 
 
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# 23 October 2009 at 6:47 am

Ryan Healy said:
Whoa… I can’t BELIEVE they kept the money Colleen paid for the event “she was too dead to attend.” I agree: the history of abuse and manipulation is not an anomaly, but a part of James Ray’s master plan.
Things are not lookin’ good for James Ray.
Ryan
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ScaryShit Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 am
It actually doesn’t seem like much is happening and it doesn’t seem like anyone but the droid is sniffing around Colleen’s death which is just way too sad.
Hopefully we’ll see some charges laid soon. The first-hand eye witness accounts of the sweat lodge are just damning.
 
 
 
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Ryan Healy Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:09 am
Suggestion:
If you want to get the word out about this stuff, then submit Salty Droid’s posts to:
StumbleUpon (you’ll need the toolbar)
Digg / Reddit
Delicious
I started doing this to try to help get some traction. The more people who learn the truth, the greater the chances of this story getting picked up in mainstream news.
Ryan
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# 23 October 2009 at 6:48 am

Ryan Healy said:
Holy crap… have you seen this? Here are two tweets from James Ray on the night of the sweat lodge deaths. I found the link at the bottom of the Wikipedia article:

JamesARay: is still in Spiritual Warrior… for anything new to live something first must die. What needs to die in you so that new life can emerge?

JamesARay: Day 5 of SPW. The Spiritual Warrior has conquered death and therefore has no enemies, and no fear, in this life or the next.
Link: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/09/2-people-died-in-a-sweat-lodge-last-night-and-deleted-tweets-have-surfaced/
Seems Ray knew exactly what he was doing in that sweat lodge.
Ryan
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Old News Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 am
That’s old news Ryan.
Go read all the droids articles on Ray.
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Ryan Healy Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:06 am
I’ve read all of SD’s posts on James Ray, but somehow I missed those tweets… or didn’t remember them.
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# 23 October 2009 at 6:54 am

Ryan Healy said:
If anyone wants to Digg this article, go Digg it here:
http://digg.com/world_news/Long_Trips_to_the_Mall_More_Dirt_on_James_Ray
Ryan
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# 23 October 2009 at 7:16 am

Yakaru said:
I hope to read about this is the mainstream press soon. I hope the police are investigating this too.
By the way, the plastic coating on the sweat lodge is an important detail. It wasn’t placed there out of negligence, but intentionally, to contrict air flow and limit oxygen – to induce a “high” that comes with lack of oxygen.
More here
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,77450,page=10
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# 23 October 2009 at 10:45 am

news said:
There are 2 news articles that mention Colleen Conaway and James Arthur Ray.
Self-Help Doesn’t Help—And Often Hurts
This past July, Colleen Conaway leaped to her death during one of Mr. Ray’s success seminars in San Diego, where attendees were subjected to the mind games …
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704597704574487361535281216.html
New York Post
On July 25, just 10 weeks before the sweat-lodge deaths, Colleen Conaway, a typically cheerful 46-year-old from Minnesota, made her fatal plunge at the …
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/mystic_past_is_guru_some_rZkrxu8pPw7WGOHiKCA3uI
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# 23 October 2009 at 10:59 am

Think About It said:
I was JUST about to post that same thing from the rick ross site Yakaru beat me to it. Great minds think alike.
 
What’s the difference between Charles Manson, Joey Buttafucko, and James Ray? Seems to me James Ray is a self-help, new age serial killer.
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canyouexplainthisplease Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
“What’s the difference between Charles Manson, Joey Buttafucko, and James Ray?”
Sociopaths – all of them
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# 23 October 2009 at 11:18 am

Anonymous said:
This whole thing and everyone involved in this industry should take a very good look at themselves and the effect they are having on other peoples lives.   These self titled teachers are motivated by greed which now involves an urgency because they have probably committed themselves to maintain their self appointed status and have no doubt financed their lifestyles to the point where they must find money to meet repayments at the very least to maintain appearances, they can appease the rest for a while but not forever.
Imagine telling everyone to go out and live the life of their dreams now, don’t wait, mortgage yourself to buggery and dont even think about the consequences later.   When the consequences come guess what, they blame the person telling them that they got into that situation because they started questioning and thinking negatively.  That IS how deluded this crap is and just how dangerous it also is.  The money will just come they say.  I have never to this day found any logic in the crap that these people teach but I have seen some incredible trainwrecks that I am sure they didn’t want me to see as a result and James Rays latest stint has confirmed to the world just how far these people have gone and will go to serve themselves.
These people who have been manipulating lives should be put in an institution for a while and rehabilitated because they are extremely deluded and dangerous.  They put in people heads that they are learning stuff that is crucial to their future wealth while hiding all the complaints that have been going on for years behind the scenes with many disillusioned exclients from them.
It is disgusting and they need to be shaken to realise just how demeaning and dangerous their self given guru status has and is being to others.  I hope James Ray serves time for the lives that were lost while he was in control of them.  It just might make the other idiots like that Aussie guy sit up and really think about how dangerous it is to make such self gratifying claims for money.  I have spoken to many people who were former clients of one of these people and not one of them has claimed any success from anything that they were taught by the person.
Whats next?  They claim they are God, come to me and I will give you the same God like results? That is just how deluded this has become.  Get real, the Bible will always be the Bible just like Shakespeare is a book and the only variables from any book is a mans own interpretation.   These self titled gurus are manipulating people to believe their own personal interpretation of the books they are flogging.
Free thinkers can see straight through the charade but those who have made it into their spell can no longer and that is where the danger is.  People end up doing and saying things that they would never have had they not been manipulated into a situation by people who are extremely dangerous, greedy and self satisfying.
I hope that justice is served swiftly to put an end to all of this craziness.
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# 23 October 2009 at 3:10 pm

Cosmic Connie said:
Thank you for your relentless pursuit of this story, Droid. And thank you to the late Colleen Conaway’s sister for speaking out. This is another link I’m going to add to my ever-growing list. Well done, SD.
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# 23 October 2009 at 4:17 pm

Duff said:
“Had Colleen survived Ray’s July seminar … she would have been in the sweat lodge”
Jesus. Thanks for this investigative reporting.
I just found out that on Day 1 of the Spiritual Warrior, Ray lead the participants in doing Holotropic Breathing, a very intense process designed by Stan Grof to recreate the hallucinations of LSD for healing. When done properly, it can be very useful, but has many risks, precautions, and counterindications. And get this–Ray isn’t trained in Holotropic breathwork. Not at all, no way no how. Grof’s org has asked him to cease and desist from using this technique and the name: http://bit.ly/18o9iz (see the comments from the Grof staffperson especially).
That one process alone would have almost certainly been too much for some people. Combined with all the rest, it is beyond criminal.
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# 23 October 2009 at 5:37 pm

Lynn said:
Thank God for the Salty Droid!
I just don’t get why people aren’t delving more deeply into this in the mass media. Why do people care about the balloon boy and not this? Why isn’t this guy on the covers of the trash mags in the store–they should be eating this up? Do I sound like a raving loonie? Oh well–at least they had Barbara Ehrenreich on NPR today–she’s the author of “Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.” Just got it from the library–a somewhat depressing, but smart read, so far. She was speaking about the lack of critical thinking skills in America today and how we’ve gotten caught up in ‘magical thinking’ in so many areas. I think that’s what happened to most of James Ray’s victims, not to mention the other victims of the scam artists the Salty Droid goes after.  I’m certainly not immune to having had such thinking in my life, at times.
 
Salty–I know you’re busy right now fighting the good fight :-), but you simply must find time in the future to look into Byron Katie in the future. She makes JR look like a mildly effective used car salesman, comparatively speaking. I think she’s much scarier, frankly. The stuff she does in seminars beats James Ray hands down, from what I’ve read. But, I digress…
 
Keep up the good work, SD.
 
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# 23 October 2009 at 5:49 pm

Lynn said:
Here’s a brief CNN interview that nails JR his continuing speaking engagements and apparent complete lack of empathy and compassion during the horrific scene outside the sweat lodge  (you say tomato, I say sociopath):
 
http://www.prescottenews.com/news/latest/holding-them-accountable-investigations-continue-in-sweat-lodge-case.html
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# 23 October 2009 at 8:25 pm

colleens brother in law said:
Any attorneys interested in pursuing a wrongful death suit against james ray????? I know, personally, that a suit to bring this guy down, would greatly help a greiving mother and father, who are trying to peice this together….contact me at ************ to discuss this matter
~ Droid Edit ~
John :: I edited out your email address because some people who read this blog are big time trouble. If anyone has any suggestions about good plaintiff’s attorneys … especially in the Minneapolis region … please let me know and I’ll pass you on to John :: saltydroid@gmail.com
Additionally John :: I know people. I’ll start asking around right away. I don’t think it should be difficult to find you someone good.
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# 23 October 2009 at 9:51 pm

ideas said:
of  course only the family of Colleen Conaway can know what’s right for them, but there are things they can do.
they can get together all of the details about what happened to Colleen Conaway, and the links to the current homicide investigation involving James Arthur Ray. they could get some advice on that from someone locally.
then officially deliver that information to the local police chief,  if possible with the media present, and also to the police in San Diego.  there is one homicide investigation open,  that could be grounds to open another one.
at the same time to create some pressure, they could make a spokeperson from the family available to the media who they sent the information to.
they don’t have to accuse anyone of anything directly,  just point out what happened.
with someone from the family of Colleen Conaway willing to go on the record, then the larger news media could run some stories.
a family member could  personally call up one of the big names in the media who’s done some coverage, and give them the first interview, like Anderson Cooper, or any other big name media person who has done some reporting on Ray.
of course the James Ray gang was pretty sneaky in how they covered up what went down, trying to cover their own asses. but not sneaky enough for an experienced investigator, there will be mistakes they made. if the police do reopen what happened to Colleen, there could find some new information.
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# 24 October 2009 at 11:56 am

Lynn said:
From rickross.com forums:
 
Unfortunately, even family members of some victims have called James Arthur Ray a “motivation speaker”, when he IS NOT. That is his cover, that is the illusion.
That is like saying Bernie Madoff is a financial advisor.
These LGAT guru’s are not motivational speakers, mere authors, spiritual teachers, spiritual gurus or anything like that.
They are world class experts in the advanced techniques of covert persuasion, group manipulation, and social influence of large groups of people.
They use that power to make millions of dollars and to stoke their own massive Ego’s.
They are also world class experts in psychological warfare and mind-control techniques, and they even brag about studying those techniques at times, which they then use on the easiest targets they can find. They don’t go up against other experts, they even avoid the “business” crowd as they can be quite skeptical about their rip-off schemes and methods.
They deliberate target the New Age demographic, those who are not trained in these techniques and usually haven’t even heard of them. For the LGAT guru, they can then use the most powerful techniques of unconscious group influunce and mind control ever designed, and use dozens and hundreds of techniques at once, and do it on a demographic who has never even heard of what they are doing.
They misdirect them with the new agey ideas, just to distract the subjects from what is really going on, and they never know what hit them, sometimes until years later.
Once a person gets a some training in recognizing these techniques, its easy to spot what guys like James Arthur Ray, or Byron Katie are doing in minutes.
They are not motivational speakers or spiritual teachers, that is their cover, that is a conscious misdirection. They are highly skilled experts of covert influence, and even psychological warfare and mind control, who hide behind a New Age fig-leaf.
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,77450,77884#msg-77884
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# 24 October 2009 at 1:19 pm

strange said:
does anyone else find it strange that ray is in this news clip video wearing a “death to death” shirt? the man seems to be thinking about it, at least on an unconscious level. http://snipurl.com/sqgvu   [www_cnn_com]
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# 24 October 2009 at 3:56 pm

FunnyP said:
Oh thats just weird.  How is that a motivational message?  These guys wake up and see a massive big dollar sign before they see their own partners its a serious infliction.  They actually need psychological help and to be pitied.
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# 25 October 2009 at 12:33 am

magic said:
Today’s crooks are just not the same breed they used to be.
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# 25 October 2009 at 2:09 am

magic said:
@FunnyP – I personally believe there is more than money on James Ray’s mind. I think he wants absolute control and power to the death and beyond. Why else make his followers shave their heads like Charlie Manson? Why else would he play games where he commands people to die while calling himself god and wearing white robes?
He had enough gibberish to keep them buying from him for the rest of their lives. Why kill the goose that keeps laying golden eggs? Only reason I can think of is an incredibly sick hunger for control and power over other people to the point of making them prove their loyalty by dying.
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# 25 October 2009 at 12:43 pm

FunnyP said:
Possibly, I’ve always said that GREED is the motivator for CONTROL and these guys go ballistic when they lose control of any situation.   Its actually quite funny to watch them and its when they become the most predictable.  I’ve watched a guy do this during a situation where he was confronted and found himself totally out of control, he knew he had been caught out completely yet true to his usual self he started to deny and began coming up with the most ridiculous excuses but predictably started blaming.  These people actually think they are being smart not realising that they give their accusers even more material for their case against them.  And its been mentioned many times before the likes of JR and his mates are actually extremely jealous people.
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# 25 October 2009 at 9:52 pm

living nightmare said:
When your life is out of control and you cannot control yourself, then you seek to control others. The more they hand over control to you, the more you want, and the more you get the more you want.
Domination and control to the point of death of loyal followers helps to tell yourself that you are worth something and not the evil, sick, thing that you know deep down in side you really are.  You know you are not worth living and therefore you seek to kill others in hopes of blanketing over that horrible feeling of worthlessness that has been in your heart for as long as you can remember.
The public needs to be informed about the manipulation these sickos practice. Oh, wait, we better not, or else there’d be no one to watch Fox News. lol
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# 26 October 2009 at 3:01 pm

Lynn said:
Great appearance by someone who used to work with JR. I’m giving props to the guy for having the ‘nads  to show up and talk—I bet his old ‘associates’ are giving him hell (it’s always hard when you first break away from the cult):
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/26/earlyshow/main5421447.shtml
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# 26 October 2009 at 8:26 pm

report said:
a news reporter has made a post about not talkign about Colleen Conaway in her article.
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,77450,78013#msg-78013
maybe someone who knows all the details about what happened can give her a call. it seems really wrong not to even mention it.
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# 27 October 2009 at 9:26 pm
Interesting… If Happy People Killing Themselves Seems Odd to You said:
[...] Here is an interesting blog. Did Colleen Conaway really throw herself to her own doom? Here is a great post. [...]
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# 29 October 2009 at 7:48 am
On James Ray Keeping The Silence said:
[...] of the Sedona sweat lodge deaths.  Legal counsel surely briefed him, after the July 2009 death of Colleen Conaway, that he is not to speak to anyone after an incident. He knew that any word coming from him [...]
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# 31 October 2009 at 11:28 pm

tahoegeminii said:
He charged for the seminar she died at and for the future seminars she booked that she did not attend due to her death???–OK the BBB needs to do something about that–this cannot be tolerated–I wish all the blind f-ing sheep that are still protecting and defending this greedy low life creep can finally see-ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS MORONS–he kept the money!!!!–Any person with a heart, soul, dignity, compassion, anything human inside at all!!! would have made sure the money was returned –at the very least–he should have paid for the funeral as well–SO WAKE UP–how can this kind of greedy manipulative a-hole give you any kind of direction for your life–LEMMINGS ARE MAKING ME SICK–I guess this is a good way to kill them all off so the human race can evolve past this bullshit stage of being sheep. I don’t know who I am madder at the “Death Ray” or the complete idiots following him around sacrificing what should be for their families to this jerk with that stupid brainwashed -”I’m so complete cause James Ray fulfilled me” look on their dumb ass faces–do you all know how stupid you really look and act??? It’s ridiculous and a straight up con–The Emperor’s New Clothes comes to mind–this is not a new scam there is a fairy tale like the ones about wolves to try to educate and protect stupid people — but the trick here is to market to people who are stupid but think they are smart–I am sure their friends and family tried to to tell them not to be sucked in by a spiritual con–and I am sure all the people attending “Spiritual Warrior” told these people that truly had their best interest at heart–that they were being “negative” or didn’t see “the light” or they would meditate for them to be saved.
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# 6 November 2009 at 1:45 pm
Disowning James Ray #1 « Spirituality is No Excuse said:
[...] to completely ignore the death of Colleen Conaway during the previous Ray seminar. Ray and his team abandoned Ms Conaway’s body and blatantly covered up their involvement in her [...]
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# 12 January 2010 at 3:23 pm

Julia said:
You are a complete idiot…
I’m so sure this James Ray guy wanted to kill people. He’s in the business to HELP people & I know MANY people (I have never been to a JR Event) who gained a great deal from his seminars that helped them in their personal relationships & businesses.
Are you going to call Tony Robbins a killer cause they basically do the same thing!
As far as money and selling his retreats, it’s a business. Of course he wanted to make money and get people to come but he wanted to HELP people.
What happened with Colleen is so sad and unfortunate but please…don’t blame him. That’s such a cop out. She obviously had a lot going on internally.
Grow up buddy.
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Whack Spotter Reply:
January 13th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Hey “Julia,” Jim Jones (the Peoples’ Temple, Jonestown) was in the business of “helping people.” How do we know this? Because he said so. All the poisoned koolaid, the bullets in childrens’ heads – that was some really helpful stuff. Or would you say that those hundreds of dead people were just the “unfortunate byproduct” of good intentions?
Those people all deserved to die, didn’t they? ‘Cause they had lots of “internal stuff” going on. It was their own fault, right?
Intentions trump reality, don’t they, “Julia?”
No, YOU are a complete idiot. Now go back to your spot on the floor next to JR’s knee.
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# 13 January 2010 at 6:13 pm

SD (author) said:
Dear “Julia C” ::
Do you remember back in October when you left propaganda for James Ray on my forum :: http://saltydroid.info/who-killed-colleen-conaway/ :: and I told you not to come back with your BS unless you were on a proxy server?
I remember.
Yet hear you are again :: and this time you are hating on the victim {The Salty Droid’s least favorite ploy}. But not just any victim :: Colleen!!! :: whose story no one on this fucking earth knows better than I.
“Julia” :: comes to us from this IP address :: 12.51.45.83
Which is registered to a law firm :: Girard Gibbs LLP :: http://www.girardgibbs.com/ :: in San Francisco, CA
Are they doing guerrilla PR for Death Ray :: or is someone in the building a Ray loyalist? I’ll bet someone reading this blog knows. Who is Julia C?? Karma bonus points if you figure it out and report it to The Droid. saltydroid@gmail.com
I’m emailing Eric H. Gibbs and Daniel C. Girard right now :: let’s see what’s what.
[Reply]

_cartman_ Reply:
January 13th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
hahaha…unless Julie is an attorney…she really stepped in it now….
Salty for president!
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Ok Reply:
January 13th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I predict Salty will have ascertained “Julia’s” identity shortly. Let’s see if that law firm disavows her actions and any connection to James Ray.
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# 13 January 2010 at 7:35 pm
Justice For Colleen « Spirituality is No Excuse said:
[...] Connaway’s death occured while participating in a role playing exercise under the supervision of James Arthur Ray and his staff, whom she had paid upwards of $5000 for their services. These are of course the same [...]
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# 20 January 2010 at 4:19 pm

Say Something!

{ subjectories }

Aaron Parkinson Andy Jenkins Bill Harris bleep bloop Brad Fallon colleen conaway Copyright credit cards D-Bags David Schirmer DK DMCA Featured Frank Kern Gary McCaffrey Greg Hartle Harlan Kilstein James Arthur Ray Jimmy Davis Maria Andros Matt Bacak megan fredrickson mike filsaime Mike Koenigs Minions Perry Belcher Russell Brunson Ryan Deiss Scams Sheeple StomperNet The Secret Twitter Video

{ commentators }

{ tweeting james }

People tweeting about @JamesARay

1. 
   terry hall: Too funny. #jamesray fans appear to be experiencing @jamesaray with drawls. The JRI flock has no master and desperately needs a fix.
   about 12 hours ago

2. 
   Bhairavi Drea Downes: RT @MARCOME: To listen is to learn & 2 understand is to inspire. RT @JamesARay
   about 17 hours ago

3. 
   MARCOME: To listen is to learn & 2 understand is to inspire. RT @JamesARay
   about 18 hours ago

4. 
   Burned by Fire: Maybe @mrfire is masterminding with @JamesARay about Operation YES. I hear #JamesRay has a lot of time on his handcuffed-hands.
   about 20 hours ago

5. 
   Hattie Clifton: @JamesARay You should be taking a permanent vacation in prison for what you are doing, what gives you the right to sell a peoples way.
   about 1 day ago

6. 
   terry hall: @KristinMorelli Did you see the video by @davidschirmer about @jamesaray just after the events in Sedona? - http://su.pr/1eJeBw
   about 1 day ago

Hash { tags }

Freedom of Information

1. 
   Barbara Forrest-Ball: @davidshirmer is the ONLY member of The Secret gang showing support for #jamesray? Guess those LOA folks are fair weather friends ...
   about 10 hours ago

2. 
   Terri Saarten: RT @TomMcFeeley: A toast to Kirby Brown on her 39th brthday: Your beauty, your spirit, your soul will never die.We miss you and remember you always #jamesray
   about 10 hours ago

3. 
   Cassandra Yorgey: Y'all kno the #JamesRay gag order is 2 stop his ppl from trying 2 manipulate the public? It won't actually affect my info. #deathlodge #fb
   about 11 hours ago

4. 
   terry hall: @patobryan Thanks for catching my typo. Are you saying that since the #jamesray victims are dead, forget them? Tell James Shore's kids.
   about 12 hours ago

5. 
   terry hall: @patobryan Pat, Pat, Pat. It was MJs DOCTOR who was arrested. NOT his lawyer. Facts are The Dr. killed 1 MJ. #jamesray killed 4 customers.
   about 12 hours ago

6. 
   terry hall: Too funny. #jamesray fans appear to be experiencing @jamesaray with drawls. The JRI flock has no master and desperately needs a fix.
   about 12 hours ago