Assistant commentary editor | Opinion

David Banks is the Star Tribune's assistant commentary editor. He has been involved with various aspects of the opinion pages and their online counterparts since 2005. Before that, he was primarily involved with the editing and production of local coverage. He joined the Star Tribune in 1994.


David Banks: Say what about small towns?

I was raised in one during what I guess were less fearsome times.


Nikki Haley's prejudice against aged politicians

She wants to depreciate those older than 75 by subjecting them to a cognitive test, whether they need it or not.


Sometimes it melts in April

And sometimes Minnesota's shifty seasons (made you look twice) offer moments of perfection.


No stranger to guns — just not good with them

That goes for me, a dilettante, and it goes in a different sense for our nation of devotees. So how to go from here?


Let's just keep changing the clocks

Arguments for one time, year-round, fail to consider how the sun shines on Minnesota.


With Biden, economic wreckage or salvage?

A look at competing views on the impact of his plans.


Slivers of information about Biden from the debate

If he's vulnerable, these may be the spots.


The death of George Floyd, and the frustration that nothing ever changes

We seek to end racism and injustice. How might we measure progress?


Gallery: The best of Steve Sack's editorial cartoons from 2019

Documented here: We're still wrecking the planet. We're still awash in guns and violence. As always, someone somewhere is avoiding accountability. And a certain cartoonogenic leader is still in office. (No, it's not a word. But said leader wings it. Why can't we?)


In case you missed it: Ilhan Omar on Israel and her motivating values on foreign affairs

Israel's decision to block her visit to the West Bank is neither constructive nor friendly to the people of the district she represents.