Why is everyone criticizing Thomas for expressing his opinions and not attending the white house gathering? Thomas' points where well thought out, and spoken, whereas the retractors who are criticizing him keep giving the old company business lines, that are recycled, and not thought out, just a cover of the azz statements. It seems that when someone expresses their opinion even if they are right, everyone jumps on them just because they are the only ones who voice that opinion. I think the huge point that everyone is missing is that Thomas is 1 of only 2 native born americans on the team, everyone else was born outside of USA. The better question might be why were all these immigrants invited to the white house playing a sport that was created in a different country? just because they play on a boston usa team doesnt mean anything. Im sure that whatever countries they are from, they dont agree with political views and ideas expressed by their native governments, and the reason why they arent against going to the white house, like thomas, is because they arent familiar with the american policies, I mean come on, most citizens here arent familiar with policies, so how can we expect foreign born hockey players to even have a clue about them. It just seems like if u go along with the majority and the majority is wrong, then thats ok, no criticism, but if your right but in the minority, then your criticized, some of these people should look at themselves in the mirror before pointing fingers. Most of the time athletes are called out for not knowing the current events and being in their own worlds, even if you dont agree with Thomas' actions, you should applaud him for being right up to date with the views and current events and for doing what he believes in.