The far left has been throwing out unpopular, seemingly out-of-the-blue, and very much un-discussed bad ideas, such as the two described by Thomas Lifson this morning, the one about how schoolkids can no longer be suspended for disobeying their teachers, and the other one about abolishing the police.

These ideas are coming from somewhere, and it's not the homeless encampments that are the inevitable outcome of leftist social policies.

The Soros front groups can take some of the blame - Soros himself has always been all about creating chaos in the name of "open society" and sometimes "civil society" by ending all norms of civilization, reserving those things for the very, very rich who can pay for security guards and other security measures. George Soros's baleful foundation which finances so many "justice" initiatives, such as ending "the school to prison pipeline" has been promoting those crazinesses for years.

The prestigious universities, though, are another source. We all know how the universities were there to scoop up Bill Ayers after his 'guilty as sin, free as a bird' aquittal for terrorism, and how he's since promoted "justice" initiatives. His adopted son Chesa Boudin has just got elected District Attorney in San Francisco on the argument of ending all norms of crime and punishment, his schtick is pressuring victims into something called "restorative justice" which means violent criminals, with consent of their victims, don't have to go to jail.

And it's not just the baleful influence of Ayers in academia, there are far more brazen advocates of these bad ideas. Way back in 2014, when I wrote this editorial for Investor's Business Daily, criticizing the University of California at Los Angeles for bringing back far-left former Communist Party U.S.A. and Black Panther activist (and acquitted terrorist) Angela Davis triumphantly back to the University, where she received awards and a big-dollar one-day-a-week lecture gig, I recall how in her speech to the students, she called for abolishing prisons. That's right, get rid of them entirely, in the name of "restorative justice." At the time, I thought she lived on another planet and didn't write about it. I probably should have.

But there Davis was -- five years ago she made her call to end incarceration altogether, the lefties batted their palms together in applause, and then she left the stage, taking no questions afterward.

Which is really convenient, actually. When you have ideas as crazy as that, it's best to only take questions in a classroom where you can mark down anyone with the temerity to question.

Bottom line - these bad ideas -- getting rid of jails, getting rid of police, getting rid of visits to the principal, and what next, getting rid of restriction, are all crazy ideas percolating away in prestigious universities and well-monied think tanks, outside the purview of voters. They may be dismissed as ivory tower la-de-da nonsense but because these are fancy and monied places, they are getting into wider society now, not through democratic discussion, but from imposition by leftists with power.

Maybe it's time to end publicly funded illiberal universities and tax bad think tanks, instead of abolish those critical safeguards that keep civilized society civilized, such as police, punishment and prisons.