<p>In Washington D.C, where an expected heat index of 110 degrees or higher forced the cancellation of Saturday’s National Independence Day Parade, semiquincentennial version, flags still flew and a march still went on.</p><p>The Patriot Front, a white nationalist, neo-fascist organization in favor of a white ethnostate, was not to be deterred in its repudiation of multiculturalism and diversity in the U.S. Hundreds of masked, outwardly malevolent, inwardly fearful men chanted about “reclaiming” America while holding aloft flags whose symbolism jibed — in a perverse sense — with the oppressive weather.</p><p>The Patriot Front’s display was just a small part of the Fourth of July, but it clashed wildly and pathetically with the blissful demonstrations we’ve been seeing in other leading cities — 11 of them in the U.S., along with the five combined in Canada and Mexico — throughout the three-plus-week-old <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/soccer" target="_blank" >FIFA World Cup</a>.</p><p>Goodness, have our international visitors ever been showing us a good time while we’ve been showing them a good time.</p><p>Scotland’s supporters — the Tartan Army — brought bagpipes, kilts and extraordinary good cheer to Boston and Miami, where they sang, danced and drank copiously with locals and opposing fans alike. Norway’s supporters did the Viking Row absolutely everywhere — in the stands, on the streets, even on escalators — in and around New York and Boston.