import re


def remove_whitespace(some_string):
    """Remove whitespace and punctuations from a string"""
    some_string = some_string.lower()
    splitter = r'[\; \, \* \n \.+\- \( \) - \/ : \? \ — \' \’]'
    parts = re.split(splitter, some_string)
    new_string = ''.join(parts)
    return new_string