In 2008, when Barack Obama was running for president, he flat out lied about opposing gay marriage based on his deep Christian beliefs. We know this because in a book published in 2015, former senior adviser to the president David Axelrod described Obama, after such a speech, complaining to him, "I’m just not very good at bulls---ing."

It turns out he actually was pretty good at it. Today the American people have to ask themselves how good Vice President Kamala Harris is at B.S. as she seeks to transform herself from a San Francisco progressive into a blue-dog centrist Democrat. 

Now, Obama had an advantage here. It was mostly only the gay marriage issue where his pretend conservatism seemed completely out of whack with his history as a progressive community organizer. Harris is seeking to reverse half a dozen positions. 

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If you have been following them as they go by, Kamala has flip-flopped on building a wall, fracking, Medicare-for-all, reimagining the police, and banning gas-powered vehicles. So far, from what we know, she has not officially registered as a Republican.

Voters, especially Republicans and independents, are naturally a bit suspicious about whether Harris really believes any of these things after a decades-long political career of opposing them, and this is where the great lie of Barack Obama can tell us a lot, not just about Harris, but about Democratic voters.

The funny thing about Obama’s weird stance against gay marriage, on which he suddenly evolved in office, is that nobody, especially Democrats, really believed it. I will never forget conversation after conversation with loyal Obama acolytes in which they said, "he doesn’t really think that, he just has to say it to get elected" 

If the past is prologue, it is very likely that many, maybe even most Democratic voters don’t believe Harris has changed all these positions, but they are OK with it so long as she wins and reverts to her progressive self. 

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It reminds me of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138, in which a pair of lovers with an age gap aren’t quite honest with each other about it, but make it work, the final couplet singing:

Therefore I lie with her and she with me,

And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

Put another way, as long as they are in on the prevarication, Democrats will let a few, or in this case, a whole lot of whoppers fly.

And sure enough, when Axelrod penned his memoir he spilled the beans. Of course, Obama never opposed gay marriage, but in the primary he needed to dominate the Black vote, which was resistant to the movement, and in the general he needed religious independents.

One would think that this kind of abject lying to the American people is something one would never speak of again once it worked, but instead, Axelrod brags about it, and hey, it worked, right?

Now think about just how many former Obama aides and officials are crawling around the inner circle of the Harris campaign. It sure looks like they are returning to this duplicitous, say anything playbook to get the new gal over the finish line. 

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It may be that the friendly news media will also give Harris’ merry-go-round of policy positions an uncritical pass as base Democratic voters smile inside, knowing they are also in on the game, but independents and undecideds may not be so unflinchingly credulous.

The question they are asking is not so much why Harris has done this parade of about-faces -- after all, once you lie about a position it is easy to manifest some fake explanation for it -- their reasonable question is, "does she really mean it?"

History tells us that she does not, it tells us that just like Barack Obama before her, she will take any position, no matter how absurdly it conflicts with everything she has ever said, for just a few more votes.

Obama and the Democrats never paid a price for his lie about gay marriage, they even laugh about it. But perhaps the bill has now come due, perhaps the voters remember, and perhaps they will not simply accept this time that Kamala Harris pinky swears that all of her politics have changed in 40 days.

If so, it is a comeuppance sincerely deserved, if somewhat delayed.

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A rare toy dating to the Viking Age was found during an archaeological excavation in Iceland. Even though the time period the toy comes from is known by researchers, the animal the figure represents is still up for debate. 

Archaeological research has been happening in the town of Fjörður in Seyðisfjordurr since 2020, Ragnheiður Traustadóttir, who is in charge of the excavation, told Fox News Digital in an email.  

Many artifacts have come from this excavation, but the finding of a toy such as this was a rare discovery. 

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"Children are not very visible in the Viking Age, so we think it is amazing to find a toy that can be connected to them," Traustadóttir said. "We also have very few finds in Iceland that are related to children." 

The toy carved from stone is small, measuring about 5 centimeters in length and 2.7 centimeters in height. There have been several theories about what the toy animal is, with archaeologists leaning most toward a pig or bear. Some believe it's an Icelandic dog. Even though more research will be done on the toy during the winter months, researchers may not get a definitive answer to what animal the toy is. 

"This winter, we will examine the finds, including the animal, to see if we can identify it, although it may remain open for discussion," Traustadóttir told Fox News Digital. 

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Archaeologists were able to give a date for the creation of the toy based on where it was found and the material it was made from. 

"It was found in the floor of the longhouse, a carved animal made from Palagonite tuff. Dating is around 940-1000 Viking Age," explained Traustadóttir. 

The stone material the toy is made of could have largely played into its preservation. Objects made of organic materials such as wood are rare to be preserved in Iceland, Traustadóttir said. 

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The small, carefully carved ancient toy is just one of over 100 gaming pieces that have been found during excavation. 

Many unique finds also came from the investigation of four graves that were uncovered. 

"In one of the male graves, only the teeth remained, yet he was buried in a boat alongside a dog, horse and grave goods," Traustadóttir shared.

Among the ancient items found in the grave were beads, gaming pieces, a silver brooch, a silver ring and an ax. 

"The woman's bones had vanished, but her position could be inferred," Traustadóttir added. "On her chest were two oval bronze brooches, with 11 large beautiful beads lying between them and a small round bronze brooch below. Remnants of clothing were preserved on the brooches. Between the woman's breasts were iron shears wrapped in a cloth. On her right side was a small oak chest containing a whetstone and flints, and on her left side was a knife and an iron object that could be a key."

Excavation of Fjörður will continue for two more weeks.