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A few rounds of golf, visits to local restaurants, a bike ride, and a trip to the Yoga Barn.

The vacation of former President Barack Obama and his family is playing out similar to what his vacations were like during seven of his eight years in the White House.

The familys visit to Red Cat Kitchen in Oak Bluffs on Monday, August 14, had a rock-star vibe.

I felt like it was the Beatles coming out, said Tom Miller, who shared his video with The Times. It was really exciting.

On the tape, you can hear a throng of people screaming for the Obamas.

Come back, come back, come back, a male voice can be heard saying.

Oh my God, Barack Obama, shouts a female voice as the former president steps up onto the running boards of a Chevy Suburban, giving a couple of waves to the crowd before the motorcade, a much smaller one than when he was Commander in Chief, raced away.

It made for an interesting pizza night, said Mr. Miller, who went to Oak Bluffs for dinner at Giordanos.

Unlike previous years when you could count on the press contingent following the president to fill in the blanks of the Obama vacation with daily dispatches, this one has been more private with only chance sightings confirming the presence of the Obama family on the Vineyard, like when folks spotted Michelle Obama heading into the Yoga Barn last week.

The family took time on Thursday to throw a college send-off party for their eldest, Malia Obama. They filled the private dining room at the Barn Bowl and Bistro with about 50 guests, and rented all 10 lanes for some smashing fun before Malia left for Harvard University.

The group bowled until they could bowl no more, shutting down the place at 11 pm. Before he left, Mr. Obama signed a large poster of himself bowling at the White House bowling lanes.

He bowled a pretty good game, said Alisun Armstrong, a manager at the Barn. Ms. Armstrong said one of the other dads beat Mr. Obama and insisted that she print out the score. Bragging rights can only take you so far when youre playing against a former president.

The timing all makes sense. Boston.com is reporting that Barack and Michelle Obama were spotted in Cambridge on Monday, moving Malia into her dorm. Most freshmen at the Ivy League college were scheduled to move in Tuesday.

On Tuesday there was evidence the rest of the family had returned to the Island to finish up their vacation after jetting Malia to her new digs.

A spokeswoman for Garde East, the Vineyard Haven restaurant that has recently added seating on a marina deck, told The Times in an email that the former president dined there Tuesday night.

MV Times photo editor Stacey Rupolo contributed to this report.

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Obama family can still excite a crowd - Martha's Vineyard Times

Black actors, entertainers, and everyday citizens often have a particular cadence to their voices that others can identify as black, whether or not the listeners can see the individual speaking. Popular culture seems to think that black men sound wise simply by their voices alone, leading to black actors narrating myriad commercials, including Dennis Haysbert for Allstate Insurance and Samuel L. Jackson for Capital One. In an article for Guernica, John McWhorter breaks down this speech pattern: It differs from standard Englishs sound in the same way that other dialects do, in certain shadings of vowels, aspects of intonation, and also that elusive thing known as timbre, most familiar to singersdegrees of breathiness, grain, huskiness, space.

While sound influences dialect, black oration goes back much further, to the idea of nommo, which is rooted in West African tradition. Through both dialect and nommo, formerPresident Barack Obama was able to inspire black and white audiences, altering his word choice and patterns accordingly.

A scholar analyzes two of Barack Obamas commencement speeches, using West Africannommo oratoryas a guide.

Scholarship ofnommo is wanting. However, in the Journal of Black Studies, Sheena C. Howard definesit in the following manner: Nommo, the creative power of the word, is a delivery style that is unique to African Americans. Nommo is manifested in characteristics of African orality. She focuses on four characteristics of nommo: rhythm, call and response, mythication, and repetition, and she analyzes their use in two of Obamas speeches: one at Howard University and the other at Southern New Hampshire University, both in 2007.

Obama intensified his use of nommo when speaking to Howard University, a historically black college. [H]is speech race fluctuated and his rhythmic style planted a seed of excitement He also employed call and response, in which he created space for the audience to respond to his message, through clapping, laughter, and phrases such as amen, and alright. Obama practiced mythication, referring to the audience as the Joshua Generation and sermonizing about Joshua and Moses. He also repeated important words and phrases multiple times, such as civil rights and (in)justice.

During Obamas commencement speech at Southern New Hampshire University, he did not employ rhythm, but instead kept a steady pace throughout. He did elicit call and response: [T]here were interruptions of clapping and laughter during both speeches, however, call and response was more prevalent during Obamas speech at Howard University. This is likely due in part to his use of shared history when addressing the audience at Howard. Obama did not much employ mythication at Southern New Hampshire University; however, he did recite one passage from the Bible, regarding the putting away of childish things. His use of repetition was also considerably less at this second institution. For instance, he used the phrase Be strong and have courage seven times at the end of his speech at Howard, but used no phrase more than twice when addressing Southern New Hampshire.

Sheena C. Howard concludes her study by recognizing the larger impacts of Obamas use of nommo: Obama maintains a connection to Ancestral Africa through his use of nommo, however, he is able to communicate to audiences outside of African American culture, making Obama a dynamic and effective leader. Seems that our presidents have long had their own ways of telegraphing layered messages through the way they use language.

By: Sheena C. Howard

Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 42, No. 5 (JULY 2011), pp. 737-750

Sage Publications, Inc.

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Barack Obama and the Nommo Tradition of Afrocentric Orality - JSTOR Daily

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In this June 19, 2015, file image, Malia Obama smiles as she serves food during a lunch at the U.S. and NATO military base in Vicenza.

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The Obamas were spotted on Harvard University's campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week ahead of the school's official freshman move-in day.

The eldest daughter, Malia Obama, is headed back to school after her gap year, and former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were on-site to help, The Boston Globereports.

Images and videos of the Obamas around Harvard Square have circulated on social media this week.

On Monday, one Facebook video showed Malia Obama and her parents leaving the Harvest restaurant as Mr. Obama waved to onlookers.

Saw Obama in Harvard during peak solar eclipse, I'm in a weird dream right now

The 19-year-old spent her gap year traveling and interning with the Weinstein Company film studio. It's unclear what Malia Obama will be studying, but in the past, she's worked on the set of the HBO show "Girls" and as a production assistant on the CBS sci-fi series "Extant."

Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear said on Twitter that he attempted to interview Malia on Tuesday, but she "politely declined."

Last year, Mr. Obama said that he's proud of his daughter, but he would "miss her terribly" when she's gone.

"This is my first one leaving and my daughters are wonderful, and one of the great pleasures of being in the White House is because I live above the store, I've been able to spend every night that I'm in town with them," Mr. Obama told CBS affiliate WKRC-TVin Cincinnati, Ohio.

"I'm going to miss her terribly," he admitted. "But she is well-prepared, she is going to do great things -- and as Michelle reminds us, our job is to make sure they don't need us anymore."

Classes at Harvard University are scheduled to begin on August 30.

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Malia Obama moves into Harvard University - CBS News

Gun dealers from around the country who found themselves caught in the cross-hairs of the Obama administrations Operation Choke Point program are hailing its demise after years of controversy.

The program, started in 2013 and declared dead by the Justice Department last week, pressured banks to stop handling payments for businesses deemed high risk for fraud, including ammo and firearms sellers -- even without evidence of wrongdoing.

I have no doubt in my mind that many of our members, particularly retailers, but also manufacturers and importers, were victims of Operation Choke Point, said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.

Were very pleased to see the end of the program, Keane told Fox News. It was very nefarious and it took a lot of work to shine a light on it and get it stopped.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, in a letter dated August 16 to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the program a misguided initiative conducted during the previous administration.

Mike Schuetz, 43, of Hawkins Guns in northern Wisconsin became an Operation Choke Point victim when his credit union notified him that his account was being closed in November 2014.

TRUMP DOJ ENDS HOLDER-ERA 'OPERATION CHOKE POINT'

Seeking answers,he went to the credit unionand secretly taped a meeting with the manager.

Were really not anti-gun as a company, but our hands are tied, and I feel horrible about this, the manager told him on the tape. I didnt sleep last night.

Schuetz told Fox News his business suffered until he could find another bank, located 40 miles away. He said he lost customers and today is still dealing with the fallout.

He also became an outspoken Operation Choke Point critic, and landed in the national spotlight including an appearance onFox News.

Im very pleased and very happy that the current administration and the DOJ have chosen to terminate it, he said. However, it doesnt fix my situation. But it does prevent someone else from having to deal with things I had to deal with.

Russ Farnsworth, 29, a licensed online gun auctioneer in Montville Township, Ohio, told Fox News his bank stopped doing business with him last year.

I didnt know about Operation Choke Point, but when I got the letter from the bank and found out about it, it kind of made sense, he said.

He said he switched to another bank.

It was just an unnecessary hassle, I guess, Farnsworth said.

Bill Edwards, 66, said more than a dozen banks rejected his application for a loan to build a shooting range in Raleigh, N.C.

We had a great business plan and we would get turned down and not get any answers, he told Fox News. "We were dumbfounded. Its kind of an unwritten rule: Dont lend to firearms business.

DOJ ACCUSED OF BLOCKING LEGAL GUN SHOPS, OTHER BUSINESSES FROM BANKING

He finally obtained a loan from a Tennessee bank. Edwards opened the Triangle Shooting Academy last year and is building another shooting range in Greensboro.

He said Operation Choke Point made it more difficult to find a loan.

I think there are two factors chiefly in play one is that a lot of folks in the banking industry dont understand the firearms industry, but I also think that it was the regulatory environment that identified the industry as riskier than others, said Camden Webb, a Raleigh lawyer who has helped Edwards and other clients navigate Operation Choke Point.

But now, as Im talking to banker friends about the industry, they are much more willing to learn about the industry and address that knowledge gap and I think thats a great thing, Webb told Fox News.

The goal of Operation Choke Point was to choke off a fraudster's access to banking networks to scam consumers. Banking regulators working with the Justice Department designated 30 businesses "high risk." But the list made no distinction in lumping ammo and gun dealers in with payday lenders, owners of porn shops, operators of escort services and peddlers of Ponzi schemes.

Ryan Cleckner, a firearms attorney with Rocket FFL in Nashville, thinks Operation Choke Point was a backhanded way for the Obama administration to put the clamp on the firearms industry without legislation.

Hes happy to see the program end, but wonders if that will change anything anytime soon.

Im glad the federal government is not targeting and burdening an entire industry anymore, but there is no guarantee all banks are going to start doing business with firearms dealers, he told Fox News.

Karl Frisch of Allied Progress, a consumer watchdog, bemoaned the end of Operation Choke Point in a statement last week.

Operation Choke Point has been incredibly effective at cracking down on the flow of money to fraudulent merchants that violate the law and target vulnerable consumers, he said.

Brooke Singman contributed to this story.

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Gun dealers bid adieu to Obama 'Operation Choke Point' program - Fox News

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has killed more civilians during President Donald Trump's first seven months in office than in the three years it existed under his predecessor, according to the latest estimate by a U.K.-based monitor.

Airwars, which describes itself as a "journalist-led transparency project," released Tuesday its latest data on airstrikes reportedly conducted by the U.S. and its allies battling ISIS and other jihadists in Iraq and Syria. According to data gathered since the coalition's inception in October 2014, the U.S.-dominated multinational force has been responsible for a minimum of 5,117 civilian deaths, with about 55 percent of them occurring during Trump's administration. While the stage of the conflict inherited by the Republican leader has largely involved targeting ISIS's urban strongholdsafter allied gains elsewhere under former President Barack Obama, Trumphas faced backlash at home and abroad over reports of mounting collateral damage.

Related: Syria: Arab tribes who once supported ISIS turn to U.S. as endgame begins in Raqqa

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"During @BarackObama's 29 months at helm of ISIS war we tracked 855 alleged civilian casualty events which likely killed 2298-3398 civilians," Airwars tweeted to the group's official account.

"In @realDonaldTrump's first 7 months as President, we tracked 1,196 alleged incidents in which we assess at least 2,819-4,529 civilians died," it added.

Heavy smoke billows following an airstrike on the western frontline of Raqqa on July 17, 2017, during an offensive by the U.S.-backed, majority-Kurd Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arabs and ethnic minorities, to retake the city from Islamic State militant group (ISIS). AFP's correspondent said at the time it was the heaviest day of airstrikes to date. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

The U.S.began conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in October 2014 as part of what came to be known as the Joint Combined Task ForceOperation Inherent Resolve. The campaign was created in response to lightning gains made across Iraq and Syria by ISIS, a notoriously brutal and powerful offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The ultraconservative Sunni Muslim group managed to overpower local forces and expanded its self-proclaimed caliphate across nearly half of the two countries.

The group's lines of defense began to collapse in Iraq as it was targeted by the country's armed forces, Kurdish militias, majority-Shiite Muslim militias backed by Iran and U.S.-led airstrikes. In Syria, U.S. airstrikes assisted the local Kurdish forces and some Arab insurgent groups in taking on the jihadists, while a 2015 Russian intervention allowed Syria's embattled military and its allies, including Iran-backed militias, to retake large parts of the country lost to ISIS and other anti-government groups in the wake of a 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Assad have also been criticized for reports of high civilian casualties incurred by their joint air campaigns.

When Trump came into office in January, U.S. forces had already begunmajor offensives to help local allies dislodge ISIS from two of its most important cities. Since then, the Iraqi government has declared ISIS defeated in Mosul, by far the largest city to fall into the jihadists' hands, and the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish alliance of Arabs and ethnic minorities, has beaten ISIS in about half of its de facto capital of Raqqa. As the two campaigns became increasingly urban, civilian casualties increased substantially. In last month's report, Airwars said that about 80 civilians were killed per month under Obama and that that figure had risen to 360 under Trump by July.

A map shows areas of control in Syria on April 3, 2017 and August 8, 2017. In recent months, the Syrian military and its allies have defeated the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) across large parts of central and eastern Syria, while the U.S.-backed, Kurd-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has concentrated largely on defeating ISIS in its de facto capital of Raqqa. Institute for the Study of War/Reuters

Other monitoring groups have also criticized the increasingly deadly consequences of the U.S.-led intervention against ISIS. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based group with ties to the exiled Syrian opposition, said Monday that coalition airstrikes had escalated in the past week, killing 167 people, with at least 42 dead reported from a single airstrike that day.

"Such massacres only add to the deteriorating humanitarian situation of civilians in ISIS-controlled areas in Raqqa city, where death became inevitable awaiting even those who try to flee along with their families to areas far from the doomed city," the group wrote.

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Trump Has Already Killed More Civilians Than Obama in US Fight Against ISIS - Newsweek