i read that thread and part of the one that it came from (javis makes good points but i can see Aegis' value). i want to circumvent as in keep the original kernel and work around the security, not circumvent as in remove it completely from the kernel and therefore have to deal with a totally separate kernel.
" Protects sensitive data with encryption and signing, by using a key derived from a hardware-protected device-specific secret." this makes it hard to circumvent too. looks like aegis is too serious of a protection mechanism.

anyways i am happy that i can use a custom hosts file. you cant do that on Android without root.