replace wierd wordpress characters in utf-8 in markdown files using python 3

replaceWordPressCharacters.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

filename = "filemarkdown.md"

## OPEN FILE READ TO FILEDATA
f = open(filename,'r', encoding="utf-8")
newdata = f.read()
f.close()

#REPLACE wierd characters
newdata = newdata.replace( '‘', '‘')
newdata = newdata.replace( '’', '’')
newdata = newdata.replace( '‘', '‘')
newdata = newdata.replace( '—', '–')
newdata = newdata.replace( '–', '—')
newdata = newdata.replace( '•', '-')
newdata = newdata.replace( '…', '…')
newdata = newdata.replace('â€', '”')
newdata = newdata.replace( '�', '')
newdata = newdata.replace( '', '')

#rewrite the files
f = open(filename,'w', encoding="utf-8")
f.write(newdata)
f.close()