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).

Pete Riehm

October 3, 2023

Throughout his otherwise lackluster half century political career, Joe Biden has always been a dishonest, incompetent, obnoxious buffoon, but the Democrat Media . . .

Pete Riehm

September 27, 2023

Somewhat pessimistic and demoralized by routine Republican timidity, conservatives are sadly accustomed to Democrats skunking Republicans even when Republicans . . .

Pete Riehm

September 18, 2023

America is plagued with an epidemic of lawlessness. Illegal immigrants pour over our borders with near impunity and drug cartels brazenly challenge law . . .

Pete Riehm

September 13, 2023

The world has always been a dangerous place, but safe wholesome places are increasingly fewer. It’s accepted that the internet is a vile cesspool of . . .

Pete Riehm

August 29, 2023

American presidential politics have devolved into the theater of the absurd. Suffering obvious and undeniable cognitive impairments not to mention . . .

Pete Riehm

August 22, 2023

Contrary to what angry liberals and leftists spew and wish, the United States of America was founded by devout Christians on timeless Judeo-Christian principles . . .

Pete Riehm

August 15, 2023

The abject absurdities masquerading as rational and reasoned reporting has left any orbit of reality. The Democrat Media Complex fabricates fantastical . . .

Pete Riehm

August 9, 2023

For the past few years, violent crime has been spiraling out of control across the country, but our ruling elite abetted by the Democrat Media Complex are . . .

Pete Riehm

August 1, 2023

President Donald Trump has been impeached and indicted so many times, Americans have lost count and lost interest. It seems Trump can’t order lunch without . . .

Pete Riehm

July 26, 2023

In our crazy frenetic world of 24-hour non-stop propaganda posing as news, it’s difficult to discern the truth amid the demagoguery and hyperbole. Every . . .

Pete Riehm

July 19, 2023

The old adage goes “you get what you pay for,” or in other words, if it’s cheap or free, it’s probably not useful or of any quality. So, Americans have . . .

Pete Riehm

July 4, 2023

Each Fourth of July, America celebrates the birth of our great nation and our independence with backyard barbeques and fireworks everywhere, but if you watch . . .

Pete Riehm

June 28, 2023

Thankfully, the annual exhibition of depravity euphemistically known as Pride Month is coming to a close. Every June the madness peaks, but Americans are . . .

Pete Riehm

June 22, 2023

America has faced and survived many challenges in the last two and a half centuries, but we are now mired in perhaps our most perilous and pernicious threat.  . . .

Pete Riehm

June 13, 2023

In modern society, it seems that men are persona non grata unless they are dressing in drag. Men doing manly things like hard work, sports, outdoor activities, . . .

Pete Riehm

June 6, 2023

Freedom of speech is the most critical and vital right of a free people. That’s why it’s enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. A free . . .

Pete Riehm

May 30, 2023

Once again Pride Month is upon us—that repulsive, pretentious, provocative celebration of perversion. The malicious and misguided will howl that that . . .

Pete Riehm

May 23, 2023

On this Memorial Day, it’s time we mourn the passing of our Constitutional Republic and ponder how we failed generations of brave Americans who sacrificed . . .

Pete Riehm

May 16, 2023

Women and girls in sports have been under assault as mischievous or misguided men and boys invade female sports to deprive women of fair competition and steal . . .

Pete Riehm

May 9, 2023

Since their founding, the healthy interservice rivalry between the Armed Forces of the United States has always been fierce and often acerbic. Marines like to . . .

Pete Riehm

May 4, 2023

A cable news powerhouse for a quarter century, Fox News portrayed itself as the only reliable news source for conservative Americans. Until the last few years, . . .

Pete Riehm

April 25, 2023

The salacious sensational saga of Hunter Biden continues to drag on, teasing with corruption at the highest levels and titillating with outright sleazy homemade . . .

Pete Riehm

April 18, 2023

There always has been and will be some form of culture war. We are only aware of the current incarnation of the culture war in the sense of the last few . . .

Pete Riehm

April 12, 2023

For the vast majority of human history, people have been ruled by dictators, kings, and tyrants, so the American experiment with a democratic republic is unique . . .

Pete Riehm

April 4, 2023

Americans were stunned by the appallingly callous slaughter of children and teachers at a Christian school, Covenant Academy in Nashville. All too common mass . . .

Pete Riehm

March 28, 2023

The world has always been dangerous, but it genuinely seems to be steadily becoming more dangerous – and particularly more crazy. All the same bad actors . . .

Pete 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” . . .