Laurel Castleman
@laurelcastleman.bsky.social
Made of pockets and sedition. A leftist with a social-democratic, green-progressive orientation.
Substack: laurelcastleman.substack.com
Facebook: facebook.com/laurel.castleman
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/laurelcastleman
Substack: laurelcastleman.substack.com
Facebook: facebook.com/laurel.castleman
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/laurelcastleman
Most housing failures aren’t about missing laws.
They’re about fragmented enforcement.
One agency inspects.
Another fines.
Another goes to court.
No one owns the outcome.
Delay becomes the system — and delay always favors landlords.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
They’re about fragmented enforcement.
One agency inspects.
Another fines.
Another goes to court.
No one owns the outcome.
Delay becomes the system — and delay always favors landlords.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
When a City Stops Treating Housing Law as Optional
Real-World Mechanism Case
open.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Most housing failures aren’t about missing laws.
They’re about fragmented enforcement.
One agency inspects.
Another fines.
Another goes to court.
No one owns the outcome.
Delay becomes the system — and delay always favors landlords.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
They’re about fragmented enforcement.
One agency inspects.
Another fines.
Another goes to court.
No one owns the outcome.
Delay becomes the system — and delay always favors landlords.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
For years, New York City has had tenant protections on the books that rarely translated into lived reality.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
When a City Stops Treating Housing Law as Optional
Real-World Mechanism Case
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 2:56 AM
For years, New York City has had tenant protections on the books that rarely translated into lived reality.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
Trump’s letter to Norway shows how personal grievance turns into policy. Complaints about the Nobel Prize, pressure over Greenland, and casual disregard for international law aren’t strength. They’re warnings about how he’d use power.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1GXS...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1GXS...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Trump’s letter to Norway shows how personal grievance turns into policy. Complaints about the Nobel Prize, pressure over Greenland, and casual disregard for international law aren’t strength. They’re warnings about how he’d use power.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1GXS...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1GXS...
LGBTQ Rights, in one row.
Most conflict isn’t about goals — it’s about what we fear the other side really wants.
Full post: open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
Most conflict isn’t about goals — it’s about what we fear the other side really wants.
Full post: open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
January 21, 2026 at 12:46 AM
LGBTQ Rights, in one row.
Most conflict isn’t about goals — it’s about what we fear the other side really wants.
Full post: open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
Most conflict isn’t about goals — it’s about what we fear the other side really wants.
Full post: open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
People are being shot in the streets, and the Epstein class led by Trump is throwing costume balls in dog masks. That isn’t just grotesque decadence, it’s detachment. When leadership becomes spectacle, accountability disappears and violence becomes the norm.
www.facebook.com/share/p/18F5...
www.facebook.com/share/p/18F5...
January 15, 2026 at 2:31 AM
People are being shot in the streets, and the Epstein class led by Trump is throwing costume balls in dog masks. That isn’t just grotesque decadence, it’s detachment. When leadership becomes spectacle, accountability disappears and violence becomes the norm.
www.facebook.com/share/p/18F5...
www.facebook.com/share/p/18F5...
Why Housing Abundance Is a Justice Issue (Without Villains)
Pillar Post #1
open.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Why We Keep Arguing Past Each Other
A visual map of what the left and right say they want and what they fear the other side really means
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
A visual map of what the left and right say they want and what they fear the other side really means
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
Why We Keep Arguing Past Each Other
A visual map of what the left and right say they want and what they fear the other side really means
open.substack.com
January 11, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Why We Keep Arguing Past Each Other
A visual map of what the left and right say they want and what they fear the other side really means
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
A visual map of what the left and right say they want and what they fear the other side really means
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
Seizing a Russian-flagged tanker. Seizing Venezuela-linked oil ships. Expanding military enforcement on the high seas.
This isn’t de-escalation. It’s boundary-testing. When force becomes routine, conflict stops being a risk and starts becoming a goal.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1G98...
This isn’t de-escalation. It’s boundary-testing. When force becomes routine, conflict stops being a risk and starts becoming a goal.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1G98...
Redirecting...
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January 8, 2026 at 4:39 AM
Seizing a Russian-flagged tanker. Seizing Venezuela-linked oil ships. Expanding military enforcement on the high seas.
This isn’t de-escalation. It’s boundary-testing. When force becomes routine, conflict stops being a risk and starts becoming a goal.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1G98...
This isn’t de-escalation. It’s boundary-testing. When force becomes routine, conflict stops being a risk and starts becoming a goal.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1G98...
Cities don’t fail to build housing because of values.
They fail because delay is built into the system.
When approval is conditional instead of automatic, delay becomes a veto.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
They fail because delay is built into the system.
When approval is conditional instead of automatic, delay becomes a veto.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
Why Our Cities Can’t Build Enough Accessible Housing: A Bottleneck Map
Pillar Post #2
open.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Cities don’t fail to build housing because of values.
They fail because delay is built into the system.
When approval is conditional instead of automatic, delay becomes a veto.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
They fail because delay is built into the system.
When approval is conditional instead of automatic, delay becomes a veto.
open.substack.com/pub/laurelca...
As long as there are people, they’ll need a place to live.
If we don’t build affordable housing, they won’t disappear — they’ll end up in the very neighborhoods we claim to be protecting.
NIMBY doesn’t work. It doesn’t prevent homelessness. It creates it.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1CyC...
If we don’t build affordable housing, they won’t disappear — they’ll end up in the very neighborhoods we claim to be protecting.
NIMBY doesn’t work. It doesn’t prevent homelessness. It creates it.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1CyC...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:58 AM
As long as there are people, they’ll need a place to live.
If we don’t build affordable housing, they won’t disappear — they’ll end up in the very neighborhoods we claim to be protecting.
NIMBY doesn’t work. It doesn’t prevent homelessness. It creates it.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1CyC...
If we don’t build affordable housing, they won’t disappear — they’ll end up in the very neighborhoods we claim to be protecting.
NIMBY doesn’t work. It doesn’t prevent homelessness. It creates it.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1CyC...
Mass deportation isn’t an abstract slogan. It has measurable economic consequences.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1MsD...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1MsD...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 4, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Mass deportation isn’t an abstract slogan. It has measurable economic consequences.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1MsD...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1MsD...
If international law only shows up after escalation, it’s not a guardrail — it’s a press release.
Norms erode when powerful states bend rules without consequence. That’s how you get Trump here and Putin waging war on Ukraine.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AL8...
Norms erode when powerful states bend rules without consequence. That’s how you get Trump here and Putin waging war on Ukraine.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AL8...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:47 PM
If international law only shows up after escalation, it’s not a guardrail — it’s a press release.
Norms erode when powerful states bend rules without consequence. That’s how you get Trump here and Putin waging war on Ukraine.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AL8...
Norms erode when powerful states bend rules without consequence. That’s how you get Trump here and Putin waging war on Ukraine.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AL8...
What 2025 Revealed About Power in America
If 2025 was supposed to mark a triumphant return to the presidency, what it ultimately revealed was how much damage can be done when executive power is exercised with little respect for limits, norms, or institutions.
www.facebook.com/share/1Gv1UL...
If 2025 was supposed to mark a triumphant return to the presidency, what it ultimately revealed was how much damage can be done when executive power is exercised with little respect for limits, norms, or institutions.
www.facebook.com/share/1Gv1UL...
Redirecting...
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January 1, 2026 at 7:30 PM
What 2025 Revealed About Power in America
If 2025 was supposed to mark a triumphant return to the presidency, what it ultimately revealed was how much damage can be done when executive power is exercised with little respect for limits, norms, or institutions.
www.facebook.com/share/1Gv1UL...
If 2025 was supposed to mark a triumphant return to the presidency, what it ultimately revealed was how much damage can be done when executive power is exercised with little respect for limits, norms, or institutions.
www.facebook.com/share/1Gv1UL...
People often say the problem isn’t low wages, it’s “lost buying power.” But buying power isn’t a separate issue — it’s literally wages compared to the cost of living. Renaming it doesn’t change the math, it just avoids the solution.
www.facebook.com/share/1AUCMB...
www.facebook.com/share/1AUCMB...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 1, 2026 at 4:23 AM
People often say the problem isn’t low wages, it’s “lost buying power.” But buying power isn’t a separate issue — it’s literally wages compared to the cost of living. Renaming it doesn’t change the math, it just avoids the solution.
www.facebook.com/share/1AUCMB...
www.facebook.com/share/1AUCMB...
In a country that feels constantly overheated and hurried, there’s something quietly radical about people who respond not with noise, but with steadiness. You don’t have to be Buddhist—or spiritual at all—to feel the meaning of it.
www.facebook.com/share/1Brvch...
www.facebook.com/share/1Brvch...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:41 PM
In a country that feels constantly overheated and hurried, there’s something quietly radical about people who respond not with noise, but with steadiness. You don’t have to be Buddhist—or spiritual at all—to feel the meaning of it.
www.facebook.com/share/1Brvch...
www.facebook.com/share/1Brvch...
A group of Buddhist monks is walking across America right now—mile by mile, practicing walking meditation in public space. No spectacle. No slogans. Just a reminder that peace isn’t declared. It’s practiced, one step at a time.
www.facebook.com/share/1C2ADi...
www.facebook.com/share/1C2ADi...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:46 AM
A group of Buddhist monks is walking across America right now—mile by mile, practicing walking meditation in public space. No spectacle. No slogans. Just a reminder that peace isn’t declared. It’s practiced, one step at a time.
www.facebook.com/share/1C2ADi...
www.facebook.com/share/1C2ADi...
We police SNAP recipients spending ~$6/day on food while Congress gets ~$79/day in taxpayer-funded meals with no limits. If the issue is “my tax dollars,” the rules should apply equally. This isn’t fiscal responsibility—it’s a moral double standard.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AiV...
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Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
December 30, 2025 at 10:03 PM
We police SNAP recipients spending ~$6/day on food while Congress gets ~$79/day in taxpayer-funded meals with no limits. If the issue is “my tax dollars,” the rules should apply equally. This isn’t fiscal responsibility—it’s a moral double standard.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AiV...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AiV...
Licensing undocumented immigrants is an important public-safety measure because it brings drivers out of the shadows and into the same legal framework as everyone else on the road.
www.facebook.com/share/15Rphg...
www.facebook.com/share/15Rphg...
Redirecting...
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December 29, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Licensing undocumented immigrants is an important public-safety measure because it brings drivers out of the shadows and into the same legal framework as everyone else on the road.
www.facebook.com/share/15Rphg...
www.facebook.com/share/15Rphg...
Housing shortages persist even where everyone agrees more housing is needed.
The constraint is usually not belief or intent, but institutional design: zoning, permitting, discretionary review, and delay.
laurelcastleman.substack.com
#housing
The constraint is usually not belief or intent, but institutional design: zoning, permitting, discretionary review, and delay.
laurelcastleman.substack.com
#housing
Laurel Castleman's Substack | Substack
Housing abundance explained as climate resilience and energy policy — without culture-war framing. Click to read Laurel Castleman's Substack, a Substack publication. Launched 2 days ago.
laurelcastleman.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Housing shortages persist even where everyone agrees more housing is needed.
The constraint is usually not belief or intent, but institutional design: zoning, permitting, discretionary review, and delay.
laurelcastleman.substack.com
#housing
The constraint is usually not belief or intent, but institutional design: zoning, permitting, discretionary review, and delay.
laurelcastleman.substack.com
#housing