Max Osborn
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maxosb.bsky.social
Max Osborn
@maxosb.bsky.social
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🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 | he/they | queer/feminist/critical criminologist | assistant prof at villanova | studies queer and trans victimization, resilience, resource access, and community-building
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maxosb.bsky.social
Max Osborn @maxosb.bsky.social · May 27
New piece out in Punishment & Society: "Groomers, gays, and gender ideology: Why the anti-LGBTQIA+ legislative backlash is a moral panic and why criminologists should care."
doi.org/10.1177/1462...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
doi.org
Reposted by Max Osborn
wynkenhimself.bsky.social
I am older than gender markers on passports! How do you regulate gender? By making it a form of government ID. It has nothing to do with state security, only regulation
State-issued documents aren't just tools to allow identification; they're also tools to enforce hierarchies. In his book "The Passport in America," the historian Craig Robertson argues that the document has served both to affirm and to assign such attributes of identity as class, race and gender. That last category didn't show up on the U.S. passport until 1976, after a panel of experts convened by the State Department noted that the rise of "unisex attire and hairstyles" had made it harder to determine a person's sex. "Gender markers thus were born out of the fear that gender was becoming ungovernable," wrote the immigration attorney Lauren Des Rosiers.
November 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
madycast.com
Cornell has become the latest "elite" university to agree to the DOJ memo banning trans students from bathrooms and sports and adopting a definition of sex that defines trans people of out of existence.

statements.cornell.edu/2025/2025110...
November 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
mollycrabapple.bsky.social
“Álvaro López, the electoral coordinator for the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, believes “we need to get away from a ‘holding them accountable’ framework toward a ‘building power’ framework.” hammerandhope.org/article/mamd...
Zohran Got New Yorkers to Hope. What’s the Plan to Deliver?
Organizers who brought him to the verge of victory are looking ahead to the challenges of democratic governance.
hammerandhope.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
mariancall.bsky.social
The correct headline here is "Trump administration begs courts to let him keep starving children and elders"
November 7, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
newyorker.com
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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swordsjew.bsky.social
the fact that Sandwich Guy is facing this 'wich trial at all is evidence of subpar justice. he is a hero being put through the judicial grinder. i hope the jury wraps up a not guilty verdict without delay or loafing around
November 6, 2025 at 7:55 PM
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cjciaramella.bsky.social
Man, I love whenever I get to do history research. Today I learned that when Lafayette visited Philadelphia in 1824, city leaders showed him Eastern State Penitentiary, still under construction.

Lafayette's reaction: "What!? have you Bastilles in this country?"
Screenshot of old book text: "The form of the edifice was disapproved by LaFayette, in the memorable expression which he uttered as he crossed its threshold for the first time, " What! have you Bastiles in this country ?" In a letter to a gentleman in England, dated August, 1825, he says, " As to Philadelphia, I had already, on my visit of the last year, expressed my regret, that the great expenses of the new Penitentiary building had been calculated chiefly on a plan of solitary confinement."
November 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
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byzantienne.bsky.social
To invoke Mario Cuomo - but NOT SAY HIS NAME.

Because he had already told us he was done saying the name of his defeated opponent.

I shrieked.
danziger.bsky.social Jon Danziger @danziger.bsky.social · 7d
"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” Fucking SAVAGE for him to invoke Mario Cuomo.
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Reposted by Max Osborn
crobertcargill.bsky.social
As many have pointed out, Mamdani didn't stand apart from our trans brothers and sisters. He didn't play the "Gee, gosh, it sure is complicated," milquetoast moderate card. And he crushed.

The way forward is together, not over the bodies of our own.
November 5, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Max Osborn
awalkerinla.bsky.social
*taps sign*
awalkerinla.bsky.social Alissa Walker @awalkerinla.bsky.social · Jun 26
Two years ago I interviewed a 31-year-old NY state assemblymember about a 7-year-old girl killed by an SUV driver in his district. I hung up the phone, astonished that I'd talked to a legislator who so thoughtfully articulated what actually needs to change on our streets.

He'll make a great mayor
In February, 7-year-old Dolma Naadhun was crossing the intersection of Newtown Road and 45th Street in Astoria with her mother and sister when the driver of a 2021 Ford Explorer blew through a stop sign, striking and killing Dolma. One month later, New York City Department of Transportation commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez visited the crash site with other officials, met with community members demanding a traffic signal be installed, and promised to make changes to the street - including "daylighting" the intersection using curb extensions and plastic bollards. State assemblymember Zohran Mamdani also visited the scene that day and realized that something else needed to change. "When you take a step back and think about traffic violence in New York City," he said, "you start to understand that this is a systemic issue that is incentivized by the policies that we have in place with regard to the design of our streets and what kind of vehicles we allow to be on our roads." Whether a driver runs a stop sign or a red light, statistically, certain cars - namely, bigger SUVs and trucks - are more likely to kill a 7-year-old. This is why Mamdani is co- introducing legislation for a weight-based vehicle-registration fee intended to discourage people from purchasing heavier vehicles. "The car industry is pushing the sale of heavier and larger vehicles," he says. "The state has to make it clear that these types of vehicles come with a certain kind of cost." soar above adult shoulders. But there may be another way to disincentivize the purchases of such vehicles, says Edwards. "One other potential idea would be for someone, maybe a city's DOT, to start keeping a list of the different makes and models of vehicles that are killing pedestrians and cyclists, or kids specifically, and post that publicly," he says. "That could bring awareness to which cars are more dangerous and also potentially affect insurance rates, which would possibly convince people not to buy certain cars." There's a bit of accountability in New York's bill, which would require the State DOT to track all fatal crashes by vehicle weight. But the other encouraging aspect of the proposal is that the collected fees stay local, by county, and, after the annual dedications to highway, bridge, and transit trust funds are met, a full 75 percent of the funds raised will go toward safety improvements like bike lanes, bollards, road diets, pedestrianization of streets, and raised crosswalks. This means the neighborhoods most impacted by large vehicles are likely to see the biggest changes. And that might be the most important part of the legislation, says Mamdani. "This is an initiative to make our streets safer for our children," he says. "And we are making sure a significant portion of this funding goes toward creating the very streetscapes that we know will save their lives."
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Max Osborn
modernistwitch.myatproto.social
just want to remind everyone again that zohran is the one cis candidate i am aware of that had his platform on trans rights written by trans people. i think that matters
estibass.com esti @estibass.com · Jun 25
Zohran at the rally for trans youth on february 8 ❣️ he was polling single digits.
Zohran standing amidst a crowd in winter clothing
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Max Osborn
taniel.bsky.social
What we know, 10:20pm

—VA Dems flip Gov, LG, *and* AG
—BIG Dem gains in VA House
—Dems win NJ-Gov
—Mamdani wins
—Dems keep PA supreme court
—Larry Krasner & Bragg win
— GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices
—JD Vance’s half-brother loses Cincy
—Dems sweep Orlando council
—ME anti-mail vote measure loses
November 5, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Max Osborn
caseyplett.com
💜
estibass.com esti @estibass.com · Jun 25
Zohran at the rally for trans youth on february 8 ❣️ he was polling single digits.
Zohran standing amidst a crowd in winter clothing
November 5, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Reposted by Max Osborn
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM
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jhstoo.bsky.social
Necessary column by Will Bunch in anticipation of the Trump Admin dispatching their Nazi goons to Philly and other blue metros.
Now there are powerful signals that this it-can’t-happen-here surge of masked and heavily armed state terror that has turned life in Chicago upside down is coming to Philadelphia — and at least a half dozen other major U.S. cities — very soon. Multiple news outlets, beginning with the conservative (and thus plugged into Trump’s MAGA movement) Washington Examiner, have reported that Philadelphia’s acting local chief of ICE has been forced out. It’s one piece of a nationwide shakeout seeking to amp up raids toward Trump’s mass deportation goal of a million arrests and expulsions this year. The sweeping purge, which, according to the reports, will include the replacement of Brian McShane, Philly’s acting field office head, and ICE leaders in Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Diego. It’s easy to dismiss the changes as bureaucratic inside baseball, a rearranging of the deck chairs on the U-boat. And there is rumored to be an element of that, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her uncomfortably close aide Corey Lewandowski essentially doing a coup against White House border czar Tom Homan, seen by the Noem faction as a veteran whose old-school approach is too by the book. But the ICE shake-up has major implications for daily life in Philadelphia and the other affected cities, because what this coup really signals is the impending arrival of the violent mass deportation approach that’s been battle-tested on the streets of Chicago. More racial profiling of the Latino community, more raids in public places like Home Depot parking lots, and a lot more arrests. Which also likely means more protests, and thus more tear gas, more pepper balls, and more assaults on the First Amendment, even here in the city where the U.S. Constitution was written up. I spoke on Wednesday with Jenn Budd, who served for a time as a Border Patrol officer before becoming a prominent whistleblower and immigration rights advocate. She told me the shake-up’s elevation of Border Patrol officials — with an anything goes approach forged in “the Wild West” of the sweltering borderlands with Mexico — over ICE veterans will enshrine the Chicago tactics that abuse human rights. “I expect the violence to drastically increase,” Budd said. She noted the history of close ties between Trump and the union of Border Patrol officers, which endorsed him as an outsider in 2016 and in every election since, and their shared vision that migration from Central and South America has been “an invasion.” Budd also said the rough-and-tumble border is where the Chicago-style tactics were born. “[Border Patrol] is the ripping families apart, high-speed chases, the lethal terrain,” said Budd, who worked near the border in San Diego during her fraught years as an officer. “It is the law enforcement of the Wild West.” People, get ready. Buy whistles or tune your car horn so you can alert your neighbors when ICE agents are spotted overrunning our neighborhoods. If you’re white and privileged and outraged at what the government is doing to our brown and Black brothers and sisters, consider connecting with groups like the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia or Juntos that are organizing rapid-response teams to protest immigration raids when they happen.
October 30, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
npr.org
The White House plans to bar hospitals that treat transgender children and youth from getting any Medicare and Medicaid payments. The move would affect trans youth who have private insurance, too. n.pr/4qFa1mY
Trump pushes an end to medical care for transgender youth nationally
The White House plans to bar hospitals that treat transgender children and youth from getting any Medicare and Medicaid payments. The move would affect trans youth who have private insurance, too.
n.pr
October 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
radleybalko.bsky.social
Morality, decency, justice, and fairness just never enter these discussions. Nor does the possibility that effective leadership and advocacy can move the needle.

The year I was born, public approval of interracial marriage was 30 percent. Death penalty support has dropped 30 percent since 2000.
October 30, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
normative.bsky.social
This is sort of a pattern: See also naive parroting of the claim that troops are being deployed to cities “to fight crime”. You don’t have to do admin propaganda by laundering their falsehoods in your headlines.
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 20d
Did the New York Times have an editorial meeting where they said something like “these are trustworthy people, we should take their word, put it headlines, that’s good journalism.”

Did they go so far as to say “we should help the Trump administration sell this action”?

Or do they just sorta do it?
“U.S. Strikes 2nd Boat in Pacific as Antidrug Operation Expands” New York Times headline, October 23, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/trump-drug-boat-strike-colombia.html
October 23, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
mayaschenwar.bsky.social
“Major never abandoned the struggle against fascism, which is to say, the fight to free us all… the way to honor Major is to keep hammering holes in the walls that confine us, and to expand the trans and queer spaces she built.”

- Toshio Meronek & Eric A Stanley

truthout.org/articles/to-...
To Honor Miss Major, We Fight for the Trans and Queer Spaces She Built
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy embraced the messiness of revolt with magnetic optimism.
truthout.org
October 23, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
jamellebouie.net
we’ll see how his mayoral tenure shakes out but i am convinced that Mamdani has the juice. not just the charisma to win an election but the temperament to govern and the measured pragmatism of someone who genuinely believes what they’re saying and wants to accomplish real things.
Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
rafil.bsky.social
I have approximately zero following on this app, sharing in the hopes it can get in front of the right person. A man I went to college with’s wife was kidnapped by ICE at a green card hearing, and he’s trying to find a reporter who will speak to him about the situation
September 28, 2025 at 1:04 AM
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audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
Lord I beseech you, when I ask for the confidence of a mediocre white man, please stop before hitting the 'thinks sitting down for a one-on-one profile by Isaac Chotiner is a good idea' level of confidence
September 23, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Max Osborn
prisonculture.bsky.social
Everyone, I wanted to let you know about the sad news that despite everyone's best efforts Bluestockings will close at the end of the year: www.bluestockings.com - I want to thank every single person who sent books to them through my book drive [will share more later]. A tremendous loss to NYC.
Bluestockings Cooperative
Bluestockings Cooperative: Established in 1999, Worker-Owned since 2021. Located at 116 Suffolk Street, New York, NY 10002. One of NYC's only queer, trans, sex-worker run bookstores.
www.bluestockings.com
September 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
maxosb.bsky.social
Please read this thread.
unraveledpress.com unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Sep 19
At the Broadview ICE "processing facility" outside Chicago.

Earlier today, federal agents unleashed chemical weapons on protesters, elected officials, a local congressional candidate, and a local mayor.

Defiant anti deportation activists remain. Another protest is planned for 7pm.
September 20, 2025 at 2:34 AM