So far the discussion for having a second child

De Amerikaanse toestanden van (NVA) politici zetten zich rustig verder...

En ik snap niet waarom ik die kwiet zijn posts blijf krijgen op mijn wall.

De klimaatmars voorbije zondag was prachtig. Met minstens 45.000 mensen ruim dubbel zo veel volk als vorig jaar, en ik heb ook enorm goeie bordjes gelezen zoals "ik wil leven, Theo". Deze mars gaat waarschijnlijk niet genoeg zijn om onze huidige regering een shit te laten geven om echt klimaatbeleid, maar bon we zijn wel terug echt goed opweg om de aantallen terug op te bouwen naar het pre-covid record van 70.000 mensen in 2019.

2027 wordt verwacht om opnieuw hitterecords te verbreken... als dat het geval is verwacht ik nog veel meer volk op de klimaatmars in 2027, hopelijk genoeg dat politici ons niet meer kunnen negeren en hopelijk ben je erbij! Je wordt alleszins met open armen verwelkomd om er bij te zijn.

The EU's "Chat Control" proposal would scan every private message and photo you send. Belgium's position is currently undecided - meaning your voice could determine whether this mass surveillance becomes reality.

What Chat Control means: - Every private message, photo, and file you send gets scanned automatically - WhatsApp, Signal, all encrypted communications broken with backdoors - AI analyzes your private photos, flagged content reviewed by human police consultants - 80% false positive rate - innocent people having private content examined - No suspicion required, no warrant needed

What this looks like in practice: - Your teenage daughter sends a bikini photo from vacation → AI flags it as "potential CSAM" → Some random police worker reviews her private photo - You send a private joke with your partner → Gets scanned and stored in government databases forever - Your private medical photos sent to a doctor → Analyzed by AI, potentially seen by human reviewers - Family photos of kids in the bath → Flagged and reviewed by strangers working for the police - Private relationship photos between you and your partner → Scanned, analyzed, potentially viewed by government employees

Real scenarios that will happen: - A 17-year-old couple sends normal relationship photos → Both flagged for "CSAM" → Their private intimate moments reviewed by police consultants - You complain about the government in a private message → That conversation is now in a government database - Your 16-year-old posts a selfie → Gets flagged because AI can't tell if someone is 17.5 or 18.5 → Human reviewer examines your child's photo

Current EU status: - Only 3 member states clearly oppose this - 15 member states support mass surveillance - 9 undecided (including Belgium)

Belgium's decision could be crucial. Your country has the power to help stop EU-wide mass surveillance.

Take action: Contact Belgian MEPs through https://fightchatcontrol.eu/

Child protection experts and digital rights organizations have stated this approach makes children less safe while violating fundamental privacy rights.

Belgium can choose privacy over surveillance. Make your voice heard.

With the issue of the budget, why don't we just make landlords pay taxes? Rent today is completely untaxed while these people still make their living out of it.

I may misinterpret or do not have complete knowledge of how their taxing works so please correct me. but unless +30% of their income goes to taxes this statement still holds.

gogogo Bartje !

A small reminder to come to the climate protest in Brussels next week.

We had 3000 deaths, and our biggest nature reserve burning away. This only 5 years after the Vesder flooding. But our governments are back to business as usual.

The Flemish government didn't announce any climate ambitions in its September declaration.

We can't allow them to ignore the summer we just live through. We need to make this the biggest climate protests Belgium has ever seen.

So be there and bring your friends.

EDIT: It is Sunday 11/10 14:00 at the Brussel North station

Vind het wel opvallend. De NVA stimuleert geen legale manier om nr België te komen...

Diependaele's latest proposal feels like another kick in the balls for the average Joe. We were promised more purchasing power and that working would pay off. So far, I'm mostly seeing new ways to take money out of our pockets.

Diependaele’s latest reported proposal, still under negotiation:

• Dienstencheques from €10 to €12. That's 20% more.
• Registration duty for your own home back from 2% to 3%. Another €3,000 upfront on a €300,000 home.
• Groeipakket ending at 23 instead of 25 for students living at home.
• Half the promised De Lijn expansion funding scrapped.

That registration-duty cut was advertised as helping young buyers. Turns out it came with a free trial.

At federal level, we've already got the centenindex. For the affected 2% adjustment, someone on a €5,000 gross reference salary gets €80 instead of €100 extra per month. The pension malus has also been approved, with permanent pension reductions for some early retirees starting in 2027.

The substantial income-tax cuts, meanwhile, are concentrated in 2029–2030. We're already feeling the restrictions, while cheaper home purchases and better public transport are being reconsidered.

What bothers me is the tax treatment that survives elsewhere:

• Ordinary private residential rent is taxed using indexed cadastral income rooted in 1975, instead of actual rent. France and Germany already start from actual rental income, with allowances or deductions for costs.
• Sell a privately held investment apartment after more than five years and the gain is generally untaxed under normal private asset management.
• Qualifying shareholders who directly own at least 20% of a company get a €1 million capital-gains exemption over five years. Ordinary portfolio investors get a base exemption of €10,000 a year.

If you don't trust the state pension to be enough and invest in ordinary shares or funds for retirement, your taxable realised gains above the exemption now face 10% tax. I find that difference in treatment pretty hard to justify.

Before the next election, I'd love a scorecard showing what each party promised, what it actually voted for, and what that meant for people's finances. Something we can point to when the same promises come around again.

How do we hold them to that? Which parties have actually earned another vote, and how do we avoid another round of this shitshow?