“....It seems the riots and the most outrage tend to be over criminals being harmed by police. These aren’t choir boys or Girl Scouts. I believe there is an effort on the left to effectively ban any police action against violent and/or habitual criminals.....”
That is what happens when gangs control an area and the police have been neutered.
I took a Cruise ship from LA to certain Mexican Ports. At one of the Ports, my son asked the taxi driver how safe it was to walk the streets. The driver told him that it was very safe for tourists. He said that the City was controlled by the X Cartel and that the only crime that occurred was sanctioned by the Cartel. Tourism was the most important source of money for the City and hence the gang’s payments from local merchants meant that tourists were very safe. Anyone interfering the Cartel would be made an example of.
So, I think it is not the “left” but gangs and politicians supported by gangs that want to turn the USA into a banana republic run by gangs.
Unfortunately I think that describes California, these days.