kops: BUG REPORT:kube-dns stuck at Error syncing pod/Pod sandbox changed, it will be killed and re-created

–BUG REPORT – Initial kops cluster has issue with kube-dns; kube-dns stuck at Error syncing pod/Pod sandbox changed, it will be killed and re-created.

kops command

 kops create cluster --cloud=aws --zones=$AWS_ZONE \ 
--name=$CLUSTER_NAME \
--network-cidr=${NETWORK_CIDR} --vpc=${VPC_ID} \
--bastion=true --topology=private --networking=calico \
--dns-zone=${DNS_ZONE}

kops version Version 1.7.0 (git-e04c29d)

kubectl version

Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"7", GitVersion:"v1.7.5", GitCommit:"17d7182a7ccbb167074be7a87f0a68bd00d58d97", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2017-08-31T09:14:02Z", GoVersion:"go1.8.3", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}
Server Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"7", GitVersion:"v1.7.2", GitCommit:"922a86cfcd65915a9b2f69f3f193b8907d741d9c", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2017-07-21T08:08:00Z", GoVersion:"go1.8.3", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}

cloud provider: AWS

admin@ip-172-17-3-61:~$ kubectl get events --all-namespaces
NAMESPACE     LASTSEEN   FIRSTSEEN   COUNT     NAME                                     KIND      SUBOBJECT                     TYPE      REASON           SOURCE                                 MESSAGE
kube-system   18s        1h          204       kube-dns-479524115-h5sxc                 Pod                                     Warning   FailedSync       kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Error syncing pod
kube-system   17s        1h          203       kube-dns-479524115-h5sxc                 Pod                                     Normal    SandboxChanged   kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod sandbox changed, it will be killed and re-created.
kube-system   9s         1h          209       kube-dns-autoscaler-1818915203-7j0cx     Pod                                     Warning   FailedSync       kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Error syncing pod
kube-system   9s         1h          205       kube-dns-autoscaler-1818915203-7j0cx     Pod                                     Normal    SandboxChanged   kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod sandbox changed, it will be killed and re-created.
kube-system   3m         4d          1405      kube-proxy-ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod       spec.containers{kube-proxy}   Normal    Created          kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Created container
kube-system   3m         4d          1405      kube-proxy-ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod       spec.containers{kube-proxy}   Normal    Started          kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Started container
kube-system   3m         4d          1404      kube-proxy-ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod       spec.containers{kube-proxy}   Normal    Pulled           kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Container image "gcr.io/google_containers/kube-proxy:v1.7.2" already present on machine
kube-system   9s         4d          32243     kube-proxy-ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod       spec.containers{kube-proxy}   Warning   BackOff          kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Back-off restarting failed container
kube-system   9s         4d          32243     kube-proxy-ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod                                     Warning   FailedSync       kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Error syncing pod
kube-system   18s        4d          13683     kubernetes-dashboard-4056215011-05kjw    Pod                                     Warning   FailedSync       kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Error syncing pod
kube-system   17s        4d          13628     kubernetes-dashboard-4056215011-05kjw    Pod                                     Normal    SandboxChanged   kubelet, ip-172-17-3-61.ec2.internal   Pod sandbox changed, it will be killed and re-created.

p.s. I had to change the taint on the master node to get past the initial error message of No nodes are available that match all of the following predicates:: PodToleratesNodeTaints (1). This seems like a bad choice for default?