I don't think Russ denied it was a problem, so I don't think this is a "pattern of denial". I think you're incorrectly interpreting that statement as his "fix"

I don't think Russ denied it was a problem, so I don't think this is a "pattern of denial". I think you're incorrectly interpreting that statement as his "fix" for this bug. The fix is well-known (a precise GC), just implementing it hasn't happened yet.