Pete Riehm column
Born to German immigrants, Pete Riehm grew up in Texas as a first generation American. Working his way through college, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve. After graduating from the University of Houston, Pete was commissioned into the United States Navy through Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He also earned a Master's Degree in National Security from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
As a Surface Warfare Officer, Pete served in varied positions at sea and ashore. Deploying multiple times to the Mediterranean and Middle East, he participated in the Cold War, DESERT STORM in Saudi Arabia, the aborted invasion and the occupation of Haiti, and conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo. As Commanding Officer, U.S. Navy & Marine Corps Reserve Center Mobile, Alabama, he prepared and trained troops for the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After 21 years of Naval service, Pete retired in 2005 to private business where he continues as a Commercial Real Estate broker with CRE Mobile. Specializing mostly in industrial properties, Pete is also well versed and accomplished with office, land, multi-family, and hospitality properties.
In 2009, Pete co-founded the Common Sense Campaign, the south Alabama Tea Party. Always active in politics, Pete started broadcasting Common Sense Radio weekly in 2011 on FM Talk 106.5 and syndicating his Common Sense column weekly since 2015. His columns are Christian based, constitutionally focused, and always unabashedly conservative.
Blessed more than he deserves, Pete is married to Debra, his loving wife, with three grown children (Jessica married to Nathan Hyder, Justin, & Jennie), an adopted son (Trent), and six grandchildren (Alexis, Odin, Dahlia, Torrin, Davian, & Freya).
As a Surface Warfare Officer, Pete served in varied positions at sea and ashore. Deploying multiple times to the Mediterranean and Middle East, he participated in the Cold War, DESERT STORM in Saudi Arabia, the aborted invasion and the occupation of Haiti, and conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo. As Commanding Officer, U.S. Navy & Marine Corps Reserve Center Mobile, Alabama, he prepared and trained troops for the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After 21 years of Naval service, Pete retired in 2005 to private business where he continues as a Commercial Real Estate broker with CRE Mobile. Specializing mostly in industrial properties, Pete is also well versed and accomplished with office, land, multi-family, and hospitality properties.
In 2009, Pete co-founded the Common Sense Campaign, the south Alabama Tea Party. Always active in politics, Pete started broadcasting Common Sense Radio weekly in 2011 on FM Talk 106.5 and syndicating his Common Sense column weekly since 2015. His columns are Christian based, constitutionally focused, and always unabashedly conservative.
Blessed more than he deserves, Pete is married to Debra, his loving wife, with three grown children (Jessica married to Nathan Hyder, Justin, & Jennie), an adopted son (Trent), and six grandchildren (Alexis, Odin, Dahlia, Torrin, Davian, & Freya).
Subscribe to Pete's columnPete Riehm
March 21, 2023
Here we are again in another mess created by inept Democrat policies. But Biden and his cronies are able to shrug it off and somehow manage to turn it into . . .
Pete Riehm
March 13, 2023
Lack of thoroughness or transparency from government is nothing new. Governments often must make difficult decisions and sometimes do things where the overall . . .
Pete Riehm
March 6, 2023
Americans cherish freedom. Freedom requires responsibility to be enjoyed, and effective responsibility requires strict accountability for anyone who fails to . . .
Pete Riehm
February 26, 2023
(Updated March 1, 2:20 am)
The world can be an ugly place, and it seems to be getting uglier every day for many of us. In many parts of the U.S., crime is . . .
Pete Riehm
February 20, 2023
Americans are finding our homeland to be increasingly dangerous. The border is wide open for drugs, human trafficking, and illegal migrants. Crime is out of . . .
Pete Riehm
February 14, 2023
The United States has been blessed with some truly impressive men that ascended to the American presidency, arguably the most powerful position in the world. . . .
Pete Riehm
February 8, 2023
American credibility and prestige on the international stage has not been this tattered since the Carter Administration in the late 1970s. Russia is defiant as . . .
Pete Riehm
January 31, 2023
For the past half year or so, the public has been treated to a three-ring circus of mishandled classified documents. In Ring One, the Democrat Media Complex . . .
Pete Riehm
January 23, 2023
After a half century of slaughtering millions of unborn babies, the U.S. Supreme Court last year finally reversed the abominable Roe v. Wade decision. The . . .
Pete Riehm
January 17, 2023
The Biden administration has been a pathetic comedy of errors since its inauguration, but as its repeated failures have made life harder on most Americans, the . . .
Pete Riehm
January 16, 2023
In our hurried world of over-saturated information, the concept of truth has been so abused and battered that truth is not just elusive, it’s utterly . . .
Pete Riehm
January 4, 2023
We have a New Year with new promise and a new Congress with a lot of new promises, but like most New Year’s resolutions will either come to any effect or . . .
Pete Riehm
December 28, 2022
With each approaching new year, we typically pause to reflect on the year closing and ponder the year coming. Most people make New Year’s resolutions, goals . . .
Pete Riehm
December 13, 2022
Democratic forms of government are inherently fragile because they seek to give voice to the masses amid intense competition for influence and power by monied . . .
Pete Riehm
December 6, 2022
Marijuana or cannabis is not new nor is the current fascination with it as some kind of wonder drug, but what is new is the concerted effort to conflate . . .
Pete Riehm
November 28, 2022
Passing generations are always and typically concerned and critical of the younger generations, but for the current generation, it’s different. It’s not . . .
Pete Riehm
November 22, 2022
Our cherished national holiday, Thanksgiving, is upon us, but with the nation in disarray and discord abounding, Americans may be wondering for what should we . . .
Pete Riehm
November 14, 2022
Everyone, including both Democrats and Republicans, was expecting the Republicans to do well in the midterm elections. Even the press and pundits after months . . .
Pete Riehm
November 1, 2022
We are very blessed to live in south Alabama. We enjoy abundant natural resources, a vibrant culture, a diversified economy centered on a growing port, and . . .
Pete Riehm
October 25, 2022
For most of this election year, there has been much talk about a “red wave” in the midterm elections when Republicans are expected to sweep Democrats from . . .
Pete Riehm
October 17, 2022
Over a year ago, the Biden Administration blithely dismissed inflation as transitory in the summer of 2021. Rapidly spiking, after Joe Biden said it was . . .
Pete Riehm
October 10, 2022
Silly Joe Biden, nuclear weapons are for adults, or at least competent, prudent adults. In the 1970s Trix cereal ads, a reckless rabbit was always trying to . . .
Pete Riehm
October 3, 2022
Average Americans are sick and tired of politics, but politics has unnecessarily invaded every aspect of our lives. So, it’s essentially impossible to avoid . . .
Pete Riehm
September 30, 2022
The foundation for our “domestic tranquility” is based in the public trust of our law enforcement and judicial system. The United States is a nation of . . .
Pete Riehm
September 19, 2022
For years now, leftist Democrats and media have been crowing about their sanctuary cities and scolding anyone that points out the cruel exploitation of illegal . . .
Pete Riehm
September 12, 2022
People naturally seek stability where they can confidently make a living and safely raise a family. So, in its absence, the ensuing instability undermines . . .
Pete Riehm
September 6, 2022
After promising to unite the nation in his inaugural address, Joe Biden summoned the country for a primetime speech last week so he could double down on his . . .
Pete Riehm
August 28, 2022
If you think college is expensive now, wait until it’s free. Well, we are finding out that higher education has already become too expensive and at the same . . .
Pete Riehm
August 22, 2022
Average Americans are frustrated and puzzled. Regardless of good or bad, Americans just want the truth, but when they ask for the truth, they are castigated . . .
Pete Riehm
August 15, 2022
There are two guarantees in the Constitution and commemorated in the Pledge of Allegiance, “liberty and justice for all.” The admonishments of our founders . . .
Pete Riehm
August 8, 2022
Inflation continues soaring to generational records and the nation is assuredly sinking into recession. Small businesses, and particularly the middle class, . . .
Pete Riehm
August 1, 2022
The Biden Administration has badly bungled America’s China policy, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi has completely confused US-Sino relations. Well, Americans are . . .
Pete Riehm
July 25, 2022
Election integrity is vital to the survival of our Constitutional Republic. The lynchpin to the peaceful transition of power in the United States is confidence . . .
Pete Riehm
July 19, 2022
Nothing is going Joe Biden?s way, and no wonder since his disastrous wrong-headed policies have everything going against Americans. His administration insisted . . .
Pete Riehm
July 11, 2022
Confidence and faith in our government leaders, officials, and institutions has waxed and waned since our founding, but for most of our history most Americans . . .
Pete Riehm
July 5, 2022
Everyday, there’s plenty of bad news, and really, when was there a time without bad news? Adversity is just a fact of life, but it’s how we deal with . . .
Pete Riehm
June 28, 2022
As foreshadowed by a historic shocking leak of a draft Supreme Court ruling about two months ago, the Supreme Court finally overturned Roe versus Wade. . . .
Pete Riehm
June 20, 2022
Most Americans barely realize Juneteenth is now a federal holiday and too many both black and white don’t fully understand the history or appreciate the . . .
Pete Riehm
June 13, 2022
The Democrat Media Complex moans incessantly about the “war on women;” never mind that women outnumber men in college, law school, and medical school. . . .
Pete Riehm
June 8, 2022
Watching the United States of America slip into a third world stupor has Americans stunned and befuddled how the greatest nation on the earth can be failing so . . .
Pete Riehm
May 31, 2022
The absolutely senseless school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has stunned the country. Every mass murder is shocking, but the slaughter of innocent children is . . .
Pete Riehm
May 24, 2022
Americans across the country are preparing to observe Memorial Day, the annual holiday set aside to honor and remember all who served in the American armed . . .
Pete Riehm
May 16, 2022
Crime is raging across the country. Crime is not only soaring; it is becoming commonplace. Crime is occurring with such regularity it actually and sadly seems . . .
Pete Riehm
May 10, 2022
The recent malicious leak of the "draft" Supreme Court ruling that could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade is again exposing two inescapable facts about the . . .
Pete Riehm
May 2, 2022
Freedom of speech is the cornerstone and touchstone of liberty in our Constitutional Republic. The most precious and important right of a free people is the . . .
Pete Riehm
April 24, 2022
As former Secretary of Defense, Roberts Gates, has stated, even Democrats know Joe Biden has been wrong about every foreign policy issue for half a century, but . . .
Pete Riehm
April 19, 2022
The American southern border has been increasingly problematic for decades. It has become a criminal problem, an economic problem, and a national security . . .
Pete Riehm
April 11, 2022
Election season is in full swing. Candidates are scurrying about, the air waves are flooded, and your mailbox is stuffed. Candidates are desperate to get . . .
Pete Riehm
April 4, 2022
Most Americans are wondering why can’t we just let kids be kids? Children are intrinsically curious, innocent, and loving; they view the world with wide-eyed . . .
Pete Riehm
March 28, 2022
The country is reeling from skyrocketing crime and there seems to be no hope in sight. Every urban area is setting crime records, and rural areas are being . . .
Pete Riehm
March 22, 2022
We are obviously well on our way to the dystopian society in George Orwell’s novel, “1984.” Addressing and allowing obvious men to pretend they are women . . .
Pete Riehm
March 15, 2022
Inflation was not an issue until Joe Biden swept away all Trump policies by Executive Order and then it started accelerating almost immediately. All last year, . . .
Pete Riehm
March 7, 2022
As the world watches the slow-moving brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine in abject horror, people around the world are repulsed and stunned. But as the arbitrary . . .
Pete Riehm
March 2, 2022
After weeks of posturing and prevaricating by all parties, the world was stunned that Russia actually finally launched a full scale military invasion of Ukraine . . .
Pete Riehm
February 20, 2022
The world has always been crazy, but western democratic governments established the rule of law to moderate human passions and mitigate human insanity. . . .
Pete Riehm
February 14, 2022
Dating back to medieval times, society was divided into three estates or classes: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners; these groups were considered the . . .
Pete Riehm
February 7, 2022
Most western governments are grounded in the principle that the ultimate power resides with the people; they have the power of the ballot and wield their votes . . .
Pete Riehm
January 31, 2022
Cancel culture is simply censorship in its snarkiest form. Freedom of speech is a threat to dictators or those just trying to dominate or oppress others. . . .
Pete Riehm
January 24, 2022
Dark clouds of war have been gathering for months and really for years, but the world has been distracted with a hyped pandemic loosed by a Chinese biological . . .
Pete Riehm
January 18, 2022
On this year’s Martin Luther King Day commemoration, Dr. King’s dream is still alive but under attack; and his message seems lost. In today’s . . .
Pete Riehm
January 10, 2022
The planet is coming up on two years of pandemic pandemonium and paranoia. In March 2020, Americans were told we needed to shut down the country for just two . . .
Pete Riehm
January 5, 2022
After a year of incessantly lying and whining about an insurrection that never happened, the Democrat media complex is still intensely insisting that the 6 . . .
Pete Riehm
January 4, 2022
After 2020, it was hard to imagine a worse year, but 2021 showed us when things are bad, they can get worse and a lot worse. With the current crazy political . . .
Pete Riehm
December 27, 2021
After 2020, it was hard to imagine a worse year, but 2021 showed us when things are bad, they can get worse and a lot worse. With the current crazy political . . .
Pete Riehm
December 21, 2021
For years, Christians, whose numbers seem to be dwindling, have complained about the commercialization of Christmas. The emphasis on gifts over the Christ . . .
Pete Riehm
December 15, 2021
More than a century ago, World War I was known as the “Great War.” Fought by nations large and small, it was touted as the “War to end all wars.” The . . .
Pete Riehm
December 6, 2021
According to the Democrat Media Complex, “white supremacy” is far and away the biggest and worst threat to American society the past couple years and to . . .
Pete Riehm
November 28, 2021
Most Americans don’t trust the media and politicians, but why does anyone believe them about anything anymore? The Democrat Media Complex pushed the Russia . . .
Pete Riehm
November 21, 2021
An out-of-control federal government is sowing chaos across the nation in every aspect of our lives with inane policies and utter incompetence. Americans are . . .
Pete Riehm
November 14, 2021
During the Trump years, the American Middle Class enjoyed a prosperous renaissance as manufacturing jobs returned and energy independence became real spurring a . . .
Pete Riehm
November 6, 2021
Americans have had enough of all the Democrat extreme leftist madness creating chaos and acrimony across the country. Americans went to the polls with a . . .
Pete Riehm
October 31, 2021
Nothing in America is going well. Literally every metric of American life is going in the wrong direction. In a new NBC poll, 71% of Americans believe the . . .
Pete Riehm
October 24, 2021
The official Alabama state motto is “Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere” which is Latin for “We dare defend our rights.” Marie Bankhead Owen, the director . . .
Pete Riehm
October 18, 2021
The Constitution of the United States opens with the bold and unique assertion, “We The People.” In that simple yet incredible declaration is the . . .
Pete Riehm
October 10, 2021
The pernicious, persistent Chinese virus pandemic is coming up on two years of plaguing the world, and it appears there is no end in sight. The truly amazing . . .
Pete Riehm
October 4, 2021
For loving parents, children are an infinite joy and immeasurable treasure; their births are truly miraculous – each one a genuine gift from God. We love our . . .
Pete Riehm
September 28, 2021
In the wake of the diplomatic debacle and military embarrassment in Afghanistan, we might expect Joe Biden’s first speech to the United Nations as president . . .
Pete Riehm
September 20, 2021
Consistent with his half century record, Joe Biden is wrong about everything. Biden Administration policies have been so damaging and detrimental that in just . . .
Pete Riehm
September 14, 2021
On the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, President George W. Bush delivered a poignant, seemingly patriotic speech at the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, . . .
Pete Riehm
September 6, 2021
It has been twenty years since the cowardly sneak attacks on 9/11, 2001. Americans were shocked when Islamist terrorists crashed airliners full of innocent . . .
Pete Riehm
August 30, 2021
The diplomatic and military failures in Afghanistan have been acutely aggravating, but the horrific images of hundreds of mangled bodies after a suicide bomber . . .
Pete Riehm
August 23, 2021
The unbelievable human tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan is also a travesty of epic proportions. When Afghanistan collapsed last week with alarming speed, it . . .
Pete Riehm
August 16, 2021
Obama Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is vindicated again on one of his most controversial statements about Joe Biden from his 2014 memoir when he wrote: “I . . .
Pete Riehm
August 10, 2021
The delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics have come and gone. Did you miss it? Did you even realize the Olympics were just held and closed out? What happened to the . . .
Pete Riehm
August 2, 2021
Former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once infamously quipped, "Never let a crisis go to waste." A corollary to that liberal proverb also . . .
Pete Riehm
July 26, 2021
As the United States slides closer to socialism, the First Amendment has never been in greater jeopardy. Relentlessly and ridiculously accused of White . . .
Pete Riehm
July 19, 2021
On Sunday, 11 July 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in dozens of Cuban cities to demand an end to the Castro regime and its brutal brand of . . .
Pete Riehm
July 11, 2021
With a complicit, fawning media, leftists foist an awful lot of absolutely absurd notions on Americans. They chant climate change mantras for decades, swearing . . .
Pete Riehm
July 5, 2021
Sex is surely not new, but sexualizing our culture is relatively new. About the past half century, education has been saturated and entertainment obsessed with . . .
Pete Riehm
June 28, 2021
Here upon the 245th anniversary of the founding of the United States, many Americans are wondering and worrying if we will even make it to our . . .
Pete Riehm
June 20, 2021
As with all Democrats and leftists, the Biden administration is solely based on style over substance and intentions over actions. They never want an . . .
Pete Riehm
June 14, 2021
Crime and danger are increasing; safety and serenity are decreasing. Decency and manners are waning; depravity and vulgarity are waxing. Morality is ebbing; . . .
Pete Riehm
June 7, 2021
The concept of public education is sound and in its first century was generally successful, but in the last about half century, public education has devolved . . .
Pete Riehm
June 1, 2021
After more than a year of covering for China and lying about the Chinese virus, the Democrat Media Complex and our federal government can no longer contain the . . .
Pete Riehm
May 27, 2021
Generally, Americans have little if any confidence in or trust of our federal government. The CDC has pretty much bungled the pandemic doing more damage than . . .
Pete Riehm
May 18, 2021
It only took a little over 100 days, but that good old 1970s Carter malaise is back. Biden and his leftist puppeteers were in such a rush to undo everything . . .
Pete Riehm
May 14, 2021
Americans seem to be paralyzed with disbelief; they are basically in shock. The electorate seems hopelessly divided, everything is going in the wrong direction . . .
Pete Riehm
May 10, 2021
Just when you think “woke” nonsense can’t get any sillier, over emotional under thoughtful leftists come up with more absurd insanity. In the relentless . . .
Pete Riehm
May 6, 2021
The Chinese virus pandemic has been dragging on for over a year now. First, it was no masks, then it was definitely masks, and now maybe it’s two masks. . . .
Pete Riehm
May 4, 2021
Despite Joe Biden’s consistent evasions and persistent denials during the campaign, he and his radical leftist handlers always planned to pack the Supreme . . .
Pete Riehm
May 3, 2021
For months, the Democrat Media Complex has breathlessly reported about the “deadly” Capitol riots on January 6 and robotically repeated “five dead” . . .
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
