Just before Independence Day, a crowd took to Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn to express their frustrations by burning both Confederate and American flags. The action should have been shut down because it is illegal to burn anything in a NYC park, but police did nothing because it was looked at as a free speech issue. If this isn’t dumb enough for you consider this…the Daily News reported July 3rd that veterans in NYC who burn flags face fine or arrest: “[Fang Wong, a former national commander of the American Legion] finds it ironic that in New York, law-abiding veterans may be the one group of people who can’t burn the flag.

He and other American Legion members who routinely burn old and tattered flags in compliance with ceremonious military procedure are denied permits from the FDNY. The fire department declined to comment on the record about that policy. ‘They say you’re not allowed to burn it because of EPA rules or regulations,’ Wong said with a laugh. ‘You figure that one out.’