Here are my results that I ran at: 15:22 PM EDT

Since you replied at 17:19 PM EDT,
I think you meant to say 17:22 PM EDT, and
I think the time was really 17:18 PM EDT or earlier.

Seems to work for me.

Uh no, all three times are off by one hour (and four minutes).
Your system's clock is wrong,
your system's time settings are wrong, or
your system's time zone info is wrong.

why is 'EST' and America/New_York any different?

America/New_York is currently equivalent to EDT.
In a couple of months, America/New_York will be equivalent to EST.

Isn't 'EST' incorrect anyway since we are currently still in DST?

Not incorrect. It's simply a different time zone. There would be problem if America/New_York and EST returned the same time for the current value of now.