Jessica Sanchez honored to sing anthem for Hillary

MANILA – Filipino-American singer Jessica Sanchez is making waves anew after she was tapped to record the song “Stronger Together,” which is the anthem of the Demoratic National Convention (DNC).

Composed by Carole Bayer Sager, Bruce Roberts and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds for US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the song made its debut at the end of the DNC in Philadelphia on July 28.

n an interview with Billboard, Sanchez revealed she didn’t have to think twice about doing the song.

"It was so last minute. I went in the studio, they mixed it that night and they sent it out the next day," she said. "It's crazy to me, because I didn't think it was going to happen that quick."


"I’m really honored to be a part of it again," said the 20-year-old singer who also performed at the DNC in September 2012 for US President Barack Obama.

Honored to do this song for @HillaryClinton and the #DNC https://t.co/Q9lTQH8IqJ

— Jessica Sanchez (@JessicaESanchez) July 27, 2016

The "American Idol" runner-up also takes pride that the song has such a powerful message.

"With everything that is going on in the world right now, it's important for all of us to come together and stay strong," she said. "The message is great and it's great for the campaign. This is the time for us to play our part and go out and vote and be stronger."

Following the song’s debut, Sanchez said she is set to re-record the track “and make it a lot more clean.”

Sanchez first rose to fame after finishing as the runner-up in the 11th season of “American Idol.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Transgender woman makes history at Democratic convention

PHILADELPHIA - Sarah McBride on Thursday became the first openly transgender person to address a national US political party convention, telling Democrats that White House nominee Hillary Clinton "understands the urgency" of the fight for equality.

"My name is Sarah McBride and I am a proud transgender American," the beaming rights activist told cheering delegates on the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention that anointed Clinton as the party's flagbearer.

"Hillary Clinton understands the urgency of our fight," she said. "She will work with us to pass the equality act, to combat violence against transgendered women of color, and to end the HIV-AIDS epidemic once and for all."

Transgender people have seen their cause advance in recent years, notably this April when a US Circuit Court of Appeals recognized that transgender Americans are protected under federal laws banning sex-based discrimination.

The issue has become a political flashpoint in several states including North Carolina, prompting lawmakers to take sides on whether communities or institutions can forbid transgender people from using the bathrooms of their gender identity.

In June after a lengthy review, the Pentagon said it was ending the ban on transgender people being able to serve openly in the US military.

"Despite this progress, so much work remains," said McBride, who noted that she came out as transgender while serving as the student body president at her college.

"Today in America, LGBTQ people are still targeted by hate that lives in both laws and in hearts. Many still struggle just to get by, but I believe that tomorrow can be different."

McBride was introduced at the convention by Sean Patrick Maloney, an openly gay member of the US House of Representatives.

"You know, it's a beautiful thing when your country catches up to you, and when your basic rights, and your very family are on the line," Maloney said.

Trump, he added, "doesn't care" about some families. "He's against marriage equality. He wants to go back."

The convention has embraced the Democratic message of inclusion, particularly for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

McBride's appearance on center stage comes one week after Caitlyn Jenner, an avowed Republican who is the world's most famous transgender woman, defended gender rights in Cleveland on the sidelines of the Republican convention that picked Donald Trump as their party's nominee.

Jenner's support of a political party reluctant to advance the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people has drawn criticism from the LGBT community.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Disunity rules as Democratic convention gets underway

PHILADELPHIA - The Democratic convention opened to chaotic scenes Monday, as rival supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded boos, jeers and taunts in a very public show of party disunity.

As shock polls showed Republican Donald Trump leading the race for the White House, Democrats gathering in Philadelphia to make Clinton the first woman presidential nominee from a major party were in disarray.

Diehard supporters of Sanders booed when a pastor leading the invocation prayer mentioned Clinton's name, setting the stage for each successive mention to spark a raucous chorus of outbursts.

Twice on Monday, Sanders appealed to supporters to help build party unity, ahead of a pivotal primetime address to delegates.

"We have got to defeat Donald Trump. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and (running mate) Tim Kaine," Sanders told a gathering of his supporters.

"Trump is a bully and a demagogue," he said. His call to support Clinton was nevertheless met with loud jeers.

He later sent a text message to supporters asking them not to protest on the floor of the convention as a "personal courtesy" to him.

But that appeared to have minimal impact.

The party is reeling from leaked Democratic National Committee emails which show nominally neutral party staff trying to undermine Sanders' insurgent campaign and questioning his Jewish faith.

WikiLeaks at the weekend released nearly 20,000 emails from between January 2015 and May 2016, gleaned by hackers who apparently raided the accounts of seven DNC leaders.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating the "cyber intrusion," which the Clinton campaign blamed on Russian hackers bent on helping Trump.

Sanders, a leftist who promised a "political revolution," lost to Clinton in the primary handily.

But the scandal has angered his already embittered supporters, who believe the deck was stacked against them.

It has led to the ouster of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and an apology from party leaders.

"We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.

TRUMP VS A HAM SANDWICH

As the boos and chants of "Bernie! Bernie!" continued inside the convention hall throughout the evening, Sanders protesters outside tried to breach security barriers, leading to a handful of people being detained.

"Clinton can't beat Trump. Period," said Michigan delegate Melissa Arab, a Sanders supporter.

"A ham sandwich could beat Trump and she's not going to beat him. If she's nominated, people are going to end up with somebody bad for president."

This was meant to be a celebration for Clinton, who was the primary runner-up in 2008 to Barack Obama.

Later this week, she will make history when she formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination -- the first woman to lead a major party's White House ticket.

But disunity overshadowed the convention's anti-Trump message and its courting of Latino voters.

Clinton's running mate Kaine, a senator from Virginia, said in an interview broadcast Monday that their administration would press for immigration reform in their first 100 days in office.

PRIME TIME

Clinton will hope that two other prime-time addresses can help foster unity later Monday -- from firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Warren was to tell the convention that Trump wants an "America of fear and hate," according to prepared remarks.

"When we turn on each other, we can't unite to fight back against a rigged system," she was to say.

Some Democratic delegates agreed it was time to come together.

New polls showed Trump surging since his confirmation last week as the Republican presidential nominee, with a CNN poll putting him three percentage points ahead of Clinton -- a six-point post-convention bump.

"The stakes are too high. In the end it's going to be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and it's not even a close call," said Paul Czisny, a 57-year-old delegate from Wisconsin who had supported Sanders.

The party is seeking to project a more unified message than the Republicans did at their convention last week in Cleveland, where fissures over Trump's candidacy were laid bare.

"The Democrats are in a total meltdown," Trump taunted on Twitter. "E-mails say the rigged system is alive & well!"

He later told supporters Clinton "worked very, very hard to rig the system. Little did she know that China, Russia, one of our many, many friends came in and hacked the hell out of us."

Trump has long sought to scoop up disaffected voters who feel Sanders -- a self-described democratic socialist -- was denied a fair shot at the nomination.

Former president Bill Clinton is the star speaker at the convention Tuesday, while President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden take the stage Wednesday.

Clinton got a modest boost Monday when former vice president Al Gore offered his endorsement.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com