Cut and paste

Here at Riddled Research Laboratory and Paspalum Infestation Help-Line we are not deterred by the jeers of the ignorant masses, nor by pettifogging concerns about "ethics", and we press on with our experiments in grafting the top half of one prototypical expression of emotion onto the bottom half of a different emotion, in an attempt to re-create Ted Cruz.

Despite our determination, progress in this research have been stymied by non-cooperation from potential donors and graftees.

I am not quite sure what a 'pettifog' is but it sounds like a rather minor smog, more like a mist.