def METHOD_NAME(s, enc="utf-8"):
    """Receive str, remove ? and *, then return str.
    If decode gets successful, process str as str.
    If decode gets failed, process str as ASCII.
    """
    try:
        if not isinstance(s, str):
            uni = s.decode(enc, "strict")
        else:
            uni = s
    except UnicodeDecodeError:
        return s.replace("?", "").replace("*", "")
    try:
        return uni.replace("?", "").replace("*", "").encode(enc, "strict")
    except UnicodeEncodeError:
        return s.replace("?", "").replace("*", "")