While normal persons in Irvine this week were repealing the city’s dopey, and failed, “living wage” law, Rusty Nail Hicks, manager of the Los Angeles Thugs, slickly was doffing his I Am a Bully cap for his favorite I Truly Am a Victim headwear.

Shlepping a tacky bucket of discount tears in case he couldn’t produce his own, Mr. Nail yesterday threw himself on the mercy of the court, the Los Angeles City Council.

Begging in his best acting form “Lawd Almighty, Lawd Almighty,” the Head Thug for the County Federation of Labor cried out pitily, if not pithily.

“In your finite wisdom, Lawd Almighty, Ah am beggin’ ya to  grant me an exception to that beautiful minimum wage ordinance you wisely passed a week ago.”

Union thuggery, seldom out of view, was essaying a comeback.

The spectacularly disingenuous Mr. Nail says that it is fine with him to impose the new minimum wage on peasant businesses. Hit ‘em again, harder, harder, he belched.

Unionized businesses, however, should be granted an exemption, he wailed.

Mr. Nail was among the loudest mouths this spring claiming that no exemptions or loopholes should be written into the ordinance for certain businesses. Scarcely was the warpaint on his gnarly face dry before he harrumphed all over the floor.

Mr. Nail was among the Thug team members arguing yesterday that a collective bargaining agreement should allow employers the freedom to massage contracts to include treats such as retirement benefits, assorted tasty nuggets beyond the $15 minimum wage ordinance.

Having opposed exemptions last week and favored exemptions this week, breath-holders across Los Angeles County wonder what mental miracle Rusty Nail will pull out of his rabbit next week.

Just a week ago Mr. Nail gayly was prancing about Council chambers, minus only a tutu.  Some thought he was a rebuilt – or stripped down —  Baryshnikov.

Fisting his I Am a Bully cap as he jiggled and jumped, Mr. Nail, a leader of Deadbeats, Inc., also known as the Raise the Wage coalition, was celebrating the City Council’s bozo decision to raise the Los Angeles city minimum wage.

This week, Mr. Nail was a new man. Or a new something.

Known for his lightning mood changes, Nail-watchers were biting theirs this afternoon in eager anticipation of what the next bizarre act will be.

Meanwhile in Orange County, the Irvine City Council shot dead the city’s 8-year-old $13.34 “living wage” law for an obvious reason: It hurt businesses.