Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Early Friday morning on the west side of Lake Harriet, a man who was jogging dropped to the ground with a serious medical emergency. He was unconscious and unresponsive. People running with the man began immediate CPR. The Minneapolis Fire Department and Hennepin EMS responded very quickly. The personnel were clearly well trained and used to operating as a team, and they had some of the best equipment I have seen.

I want to express my thanks to these professional women and men for their efforts to save this man's life. Thanks also to our elected officials for spending our tax dollars wisely in the selection, training and properly equipping emergency response personnel. A final thought: Be careful of overexertion in warm weather, and always carry your ID with you.

Jim Welna, Edina

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Every time an athlete suffers cardiac arrest, as LeBron James' son Bronny did recently during a University of Southern California practice, it makes me wish that all athletes could have an echocardiogram, even though that's most likely unrealistic and cost-prohibitive. Our son passed all sports physicals growing up. As a college athlete he collapsed at practice, and after an echo it was discovered that he had a heart defect. Our son is being monitored and will need surgery at some point, but we are grateful for the discovery of his heart defect by the echo he had.

Thanks for the July 28 opinion by Phil Benson and Sylvia Schwarz ("How Minnesota muzzles free speech on Israel").

Oddly, both Minnesota statutes referenced therein, 16C.053 and 3.226, contain identical language prohibiting discrimination against Israel, presumably under the Boycott Divest Sanctions (BDS) movement, while citing the U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions:

"This section does not prohibit a vendor from engaging in free speech or expression protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or the Constitution of the state of Minnesota."

Mixed messages, anyone?

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going whole-hog-Nazi, and the current U.S. Supreme Court discarding judicial precedents like snot-soaked rags, it's good to know the Minnesota Constitution provides superior free speech protection.

And never mind that said alleged "guidance" conflicts with the Symington and Glenn provisions of the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22 of the U.S. Code, section 2799aa-1), which forbid U.S. foreign aid to countries with nuclear weapons programs that are not signatories to the Treaty on the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a category that includes Israel.

Were Congress not so willingly gagged, it could save $4 billion per year of military aid to a criminally racist, apartheid regime.

William Beyer, St. Louis Park

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The commentary by Benson and Schwarz referred to Arkansas Times v. Waldrip. In that case, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the Arkansas statute prohibiting state entities from contracting with private companies unless the contract included a certification that the company was not, and would not be for the duration of the contract, boycotting Israel. That means a company submitting a project bid to the state, for example, either needs to agree to that condition or decline and continue boycotting Israel to its heart's content.

Of course, none of these facts get to the true crux of the matter: the BDS movement's obsessive drive to eliminate the Jewish State. Indeed, Benson and Schwarz aptly highlight the fact that anti-BDS statutes concern "only Israel." Perhaps they should look in the mirror and consider why the BDS movement is similarly concerned with "only Israel."

Judah Druck, St. Louis Park

The writer is an attorney.

My goodness, Barbie at 64 years old has sported dozens of career moves and body changes all without aging, as a July 26 letter writer noted. I don't recall seeing a "pregnant Barbie with a bump," either (opinion editor's note: Barbie's friend Midge notwithstanding). Maybe that's why the famous toy company didn't manufacture a Barbie Day Care career doll to accompany her many careers. Or maybe I missed it?

Mary C. Youngquist, Coon Rapids

I moved to Minnesota three years ago. One of the first things I noticed was the pub-cut style of pizza. I would go check out new pizza places all around the Twin Cities, and they would all have a pub cut. When mentioning it to friends who have lived here longer, they seemed oblivious to the fact. But there I sat, eating unsatisfying square by unsatisfying square.

You see, cutting pizzas into squares isn't just wrong — it's madness. The crust-to-pizza ratio is completely thrown off. Imagine going on a first date with someone, getting a pub-cut pizza, then just cracking into the corner piece of 95% crust as the rest of the crust explodes into his or her face.

I'm not saying that pub cut never works. Sure, if you're sharing twelve pizzas with 25 people, go ahead and cut it into little squares and let the vultures descend onto the carcasses of pizza that once were whole. However, if you're splitting a pizza with one other person, why would it be cut into squares? What does anybody gain from this other than disorganization and inability to track how much they've eaten?

Perhaps the biggest argument against this methodology is the word "pie." We are eating a pizza pie. Could you imagine cutting any other version of pie into tiny squares and giving someone a center piece? No, because the topping-to-crust ratio would be off.

The author of the article states: "Triangle slices flop and falter, causing a cheese and topping cascade." I would like to ask: In what world? Who doesn't know how to hold a pie-cut pizza slice?