[websites420]

>but it seems like there's at least some indication of how she feels about it.

This is not true. The judge's job is to follow pertinent line of inquiries to the case and get responses from the plaintiff and defense. Not pursuing a line of questioning might indicate that the questions were already resolved in briefs, and are therefore not needed in open court. Open court is a very, very small part of these trials, so trying to get a read on what a judge thinks based on questions in open court is spurious at best.

[tyingq]

What I posted weren't questions though. They are statements from the judge that don't sound like "devil's advocate" type set ups.

[websites420]

It applies to anything said by the judge in open court. It is intended to elicit a response from the parties. Judges don’t make comments on their thoughts out loud for the benefit of participants.