In the latest episode of Nerd Out, Dave and Alec talked about the weekend violence in Mexico after the death of a drug lord, and looked at the ramifications. Then they looked at Iran, the other potential hot spot and the similarities. They discussed travel considerations and being aware of potential cyber and physical risk. This led to a further discussion of extremist activity, the growth of Al Qaeda and domestic extremist activity around critical infrastructure. They wrapped up the pod talking about Knights of the Seven Kingdoms and the latest trailers for House of the Dragon and the Mandalorian and Grogu.

References discussed in the pod include:

Mexico Violence

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/violence-mexico-jalisco-new-generation-cartel-killed-military-puerto-vallarta/
• https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/mexico-el-mencho-killed-travel-chaos-02-23-26-intl-hnk
• https://thesoufancenter.org/research/war-against-the-cartels-prospects-and-perils-for-the-trump-administrations-military-led-campaign/

Iran Tensions

• https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/us/politics/iran-terrorist-attacks-proxies-trump.html
• https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-june-22-2025

Substation Attack in Nevada

• https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/us/nevada-counterterrorism-incident-investigation-fbi
• https://www.ktnv.com/news/authorities-investigate-possible-terrorism-threat-after-a-car-ran-into-facility-in-boulder-city-sources-say

Nor’easter Snowstorm

• https://www.usatoday.com/live-story/news/nation/2026/02/23/storm-snow-wind-northeast-live-updates/88814627007/
• https://sundayguardianlive.com/science/the-science-behind-nycs-severe-snow-storm-arctic-air-atlantic-winds-and-a-historic-noreaster-171924/