I don't know what the correct name is for the issue I am having, or whether it is related to my VSCode, or some of its extensions.
Here is a screenshot depicting the problem:
Linux, VSCode 1.19.2
"gitlens.blame.line.enabled": false,// was working in previous versions
"gitlens.currentLine.enabled": false,// in modern version
"gitlens.codeLens.authors.enabled": false,
"gitlens.codeLens.recentChange.enabled": false,