“Michael Avenatti walked into a federal courthouse flanked by lawyers to face trial for allegedly embezzling millions in settlement proceeds from a handful of his own clients,” the Daily Beast reports.

“The twist: Despite the presence of his own legal eagles, the disgraced attorney was representing himself, and putting his trademark self-righteousness on robust display.”

“Inside the courtroom, Avenatti parroted a familiar line to jurors that he’s previously used to defend himself—that he’s a David fighting Goliaths, a fighter for the little guy, and that he never ‘intended to steal or defraud any client of any money at all.’”

Jeff Bezos and three passengers reached the edge of space Tuesday morning on a flight the billionaire businessman hopes will kick-start an expansive new era for human space travel, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The flight was timed to coincide with the date in 1969 when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon. In speeches, Mr. Bezos has cited that event as a key moment during his life and stated his conviction that humanity must establish outposts in the solar system where people could live.”

New York Times: “That Mr. Bezos himself was seated in the capsule reflects his enthusiasm for the endeavor and perhaps signals his intent to give Blue Origin the focus and creative entrepreneurship that made Amazon one of the most powerful economic forces on the planet.”

Playbook: “It’s fair to wonder whether Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of California or filming another reality show. Well, it turns out she’s doing a little bit of both. Jenner is showing up at campaign events and rallies with a film crew like famous candidates often do — but she’s also brought the crew to an interview with Sean Hannity and to an appearance at CPAC.”

“Looking ahead to life after the trail, Jenner has been paying them to collect footage of her time running for office. And after the campaign she can do whatever she wants with it — sell it to Netflix for a documentary, perhaps, or to E! for another Kardashian reality series.”

“A federal court on threw out the defamation lawsuit filed by Roy Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice, against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen,” Politico reports.

“Moore, who served twice in his role on the Alabama Supreme Court and was twice removed from the position, sued Baron Cohen after Moore was interviewed under the pretense that he would receive an award for his support of Israel. Baron Cohen pretended to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert and claimed he had technology that would show whether Moore was a pedophile — a reference to sexual misconduct allegations against Moore.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) continued her feud with Taylor Swift in a Breitbart interview, warning her that if we have a “socialistic government,” the state would have to “approve her music,” and won’t “allow women to dress, or sing, to be on stage, or entertain.”

The Anchorage Daily News tracks down Sarah Palin, who hasn’t given a mainstream media interview in years but spends a lot of time making custom Cameo videos.

Texas lawmakers passed a bill that will penalize professional sports teams if they do not play the national anthem before games, Fox News reports.

Singer Ted Nugent, who has called COVID-19 “not a real pandemic” as well as a “scammy pandemic,” revealed in a video that he now has the virus, Marketwatch reports.

Said Nugent: “Everybody told me that I should not announce this, but I have had flu symptoms for the past 10 days. I thought I was dying. Just a clusterfuck.”

He added: “My god, what a pain in the ass. I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days.”

“A trio of Republican lawmakers outlined legislation Tuesday aimed at ending Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption after the All-Star Game was moved out of Georgia in protest of that state’s new voting restrictions,” NBC News reports.

“The legislative push from the three conservative senators — Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Josh Hawley of Missouri — comes amid growing frustrations among Republicans over corporations and sports leagues embracing causes associated with progressives, such as protecting voting rights.”

The NCAA announced it will pull events from states that have passed anti-trans bills.

The organization says “only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected.”

Will Smith’s movie Emancipation is the first project to withdraw its production from Georgia over the state’s new restrictive election laws, the New York Times reports.

“The slavery-era drama, which is being produced and financed by Apple Studios, is the first major production to cite the law as a reason to leave the state, which offers generous tax incentives to Hollywood productions and has become a major hub for Marvel Studios, Netflix and other industry heavyweights.”

Texas Tribune: “Democrats in the Texas Senate overwhelmingly crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the Star Spangled Banner Protection Act, a conservative-backed bill that would require any professional sports teams with contracts with the state government to play the national anthem before the start of a game.”

Former President Obama praised Major League Baseball for moving its All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to Georgia’s new law curbing voting access, Axios reports.

Said Obama: “Congratulations to @MLB for taking a stand on behalf of voting rights for all citizens. There’s no better way for America’s pastime to honor the great Hank Aaron, who always led by example.”