CNN drew backlash over an article claiming that worries over the recent murder of Bob Lee, a prominent technology entrepreneur and founder of CashApp, in the city of San Francisco do not account for the fact that other cities have worse crime rates.

Lee, who was the 43-year-old chief product officer of cryptocurrency startup MobileCoin upon his demise, was visiting downtown San Francisco when he was stabbed in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He is survived by two young daughters and was mourned by coworkers upon the news of his death.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and former UFC champion Jake Shields were among the well-known individuals who criticized San Francisco leadership over the death of Lee.

CNN published an article on Friday noting that violent crime rates in San Francisco “are well below that of many other cities of a similar size.”

“San Francisco now falls in the lower middle of the pack when compared with several cities of a similar population,” the article said, adding that cities such as Jacksonville, Columbus, and Indianapolis have higher homicide rates. The number of arrests in San Francisco has decreased 29% amid a drop in violent crime of 14% between 2019 and 2022.

George Tita, a criminal justice professor at the University of California Irvine, told CNN that Lee’s prominence as a technology entrepreneur garnered undue attention to his death. “When a very high profile tech person is murdered, it is just going to get more publicity than if it was an impoverished person in a neighborhood of color,” Tita contended. “It’s just low-hanging fruit. Nobody wants to look at actual statistics. Most of the states and counties with the highest level of crime statistics are in red states versus blue states.”

Conservative commentators argued it was absurd to brush off violent crime in the city by merely saying that other cities are even less safe. Even as violent crime diminishes, certain property crimes such as car thefts have risen dramatically.

“I was in SF back in February and saw signs in popular areas warning of having my car burglarized if I left things inside,” Townhall contributor Gabriella Hoffman remarked. “My best college friend, a longtime SF resident, now even refers to his city in unkind terms. That’s not the hallmark of a safe city, sorry. Sad what’s happened to this once-beautiful city.”

“It seems to me where and how violent crime occurs matters a lot,” RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway added. “Maybe Jacksonville has more murders per capita, but as a random law-abiding citizen there’s no question you feel much less safe spending an afternoon in downtown SF.”

Another social media user quipped that the death of Lee was a “mostly peaceful homicide” in the eyes of CNN, which gained notoriety for a news chyron three years ago that described a Black Lives Matter riot in Wisconsin as “fiery but mostly peaceful.”

Other social users commenters recalled that CNN senior national correspondent Kyung Lah was recently a victim of a robbery outside San Francisco City Hall. Thieves broke the window of her team’s rental car while they were reporting about rampant street crime and stole multiple bags despite the fact that the vehicle was protected by private security.

Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled new solar power investments in the district of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) shortly after Greene traveled to New York City for a protest against the arraignment of former President Donald Trump.

Harris touted efforts from the Biden administration to increase spending on renewable energy initiatives in remarks delivered Thursday at a Qcells manufacturing facility in Dalton, Georgia. She contended that residents of the small city are benefiting from the administration’s policies.

“President Joe Biden and I know this is just the beginning. Dalton, we see what you have accomplished, and we see the path that you’ve laid,” she commented. “Since taking office, our administration has made the largest investment in solar energy in our nation’s history. We’ve strengthened domestic supply chains to make sure America has reliable access to parts and material to build a clean energy technology and economy. We provided tax credits to encourage companies to buy solar panels made in America. And we invested billions more to build and expand factories like this one.”

Greene responded to the visit from Harris by citing a press release which indicated that state and local officials, rather than Biden administration officials, were responsible for negotiating with Qcells and attracting a recent $2.5 billion solar module fabrication initiative to Dalton. She also shared images of constituents peacefully protesting against Harris, noting the difference between them and the far-Left demonstrators that forced her to flee the rally in New York City.

“This is what protesters in my district in Northwest Georgia look like when they are protesting Kamala Harris coming to town, trying to take credit for jobs that President Trump and Governor Kemp created in Georgia back in 2019,” she said on social media. “Versus the Antifa style protesting mob of perverts, groomers, pedophiles, and baby killers.”

The Biden administration has established a “whole-of-government effort” to reduce carbon emissions and accelerate green energy expansion in the United States. Beyond the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, both of which earmarked substantial funds for climate initiatives, federal regulators under the administration have introduced new emissions rules for household appliances such as gas stoves and refrigerators.

The visit from Harris came days after the Biden administration announced that the Energy Department would create incentives for companies to develop renewable power infrastructure in current and former coal communities. Developers have indeed transitioned away from coal production: nearly one-quarter of the nation’s coal power capacity is slated to be retired within the next decade even as nations such as China and India rapidly expand their reliance on fossil fuels and increase their emissions to combat elevated power costs.

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“President Biden came to the White House to end years of big words but little action to help energy-producing parts of the country, who for decades saw jobs exported out and products imported in, all while other countries surpassed the United States in critical sectors like infrastructure, clean energy, and semiconductors,” the White House said in a fact sheet. “The actions announced today will drive new investments in energy communities to support their economic revitalization, strengthen American supply chains, and help ensure coal, oil, and gas workers benefit from the new clean energy economy.”